ROADTRIP
by Canadino
Summary: You were with them during sophomore year...now see if you can survive with them as they attempt to graduate junior year...realness to the max, five become six! Read and Review, please! sequel to Mankin Side of Life *END POSTED*
1. She Will Be Loved

**Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics. If any of these songs were mine, I wouldn't be writing fanfics.**

Background music: She Will Be Loved – Maroon 5

Note: I was seriously considering updating this next week, but then I realized…what if my readers forget about me, a modest fanfic author?! (yes, these thoughts run through my head during odd times. Weird) Besides, I gotta keep up with my tradition of fast updates. Which I do often. Yeah you all benefit from this, but it gives me deadlines. No way. hopefully, the realness is still there. More watered down lemonade. Now along with mood killers, like bread.

Mankin Side of Life 2 – ROADTRIP!

Chapter 1 – She Will Be Loved

Yoh Asakura groaned as he heard the annoying constant beeping of the clock next to his bed. Damn, people these days couldn't have developed a more nicer sounding clock, could they? A monotonous droning beeping that kept all from the peaceful state of rest…he kept his eyes closed, resisting against the beeping thing (now beeping even more loudly, it seemed).

Something slapped the clock quiet. "Get up utouto, or mom's gonna come in here."

Yoh groaned again. He let his eyes half-open (something he was used to, since his eyes always seemed to be in that position anyway) and scanned the dim room. The dark green curtains covering the windows offered protection from the head-on rays of the sun, and the faint light revealed a rather messy room; two twin sized beds separated by a bedside table with the now silent clock and a lamp that's shade was lopsided. There was only one desk, despite the fact the room was shared by two people. The desk was used as a place to throw dirty clothes: Yoh preferred to do his homework on his bed while Hao preferred not to do his homework at all. The floor wasn't much different and the walls had random posters revealing the twins' different tastes: Soul Bob posters covering Yoh's 'side' of the room while there were papers with strange strategies tacked on Hao's walls. What strategies they were, were no one's idea, but one rather large one looked like a map of a school…

"Time to get up," Hao called simply, sounding awake for six-fifty in the morning. Yoh didn't say anything and groaned again as Hao threw something at him. Half-heartedly chucking the textbook (whoa, what was a textbook doing in Hao's room, and why did his brother find it necessary to throw that potentially fatal object at his head?) back, it falling back on the light carpet with a light thud.

"Why are you so awake?" Yoh sighed, sitting up. Hao was already getting dressed for school.

"Well, unlike some people, I don't want to look hideous by the time Lyserg comes over."

Lyserg.

"Morning mom."

"Hey, Yoh. Sleep well?" Keiko smiled warmly as she watched the pancake batter bubble in the pan. She was wearing a light pink apron with a sun in the bottom left corner, smiling anime-like.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"You have to sleep well to have a good day," Mikihisa commented, turning the page of the newspaper he was browsing over. The sun's rays caught a flash of gold and Yoh noticed the gold ring on his father's finger. He let his eyes wander to his mother, who was wearing its twin on her hand.

"Did Lyserg come around yet?" Yoh asked.

"Not yet, honey."

Yoh opened the fridge to get the carton of milk. At the same time, the backdoor opened as well, revealing a green haired beauty standing in the doorframe. "Morning!"

"Good morning, Lyserg," Keiko called, flipping the pancake in the pan. "Happy Monday!"

"Hopefully," Lyserg chuckled. "You know, it's easier to walk across the street here than before."

"We only lived a block down," Keiko said, frowning. "Besides, I thought you liked coming here before school anyway."

"I do!" At that moment, Yoh straightened up and closed the fridge door, drawing attention to him. Lyserg jumped, starting so violently that the aqua tie around his neck shook as well. His green eyes blinked, showing obvious surprise looking back into Yoh's brown.

"Oh…morning Yoh…" Lyserg mumbled, his voice sounding awkward.

"Um, yeah."

Keiko turned to both boys, expecting something else and feeling disappointed when the two just stood there, not looking at each other. "Hey, you two, aren't you going to say anything…"

"Lyserg!"

Hao ran into the kitchen, fully dressed, aqua tie tied loosely around his neck. His shirt was untucked (surprise) as he darted up to Lyserg and kissed him (yes, kissed him) on the lips hello, good morning. Lyserg's gaze disappeared from Yoh's as he closed his eyes in contentment.

"Always so energetic in the mornings," Mikihisa said, sounding a tad sarcastic. Yoh nodded as he turned away and put the carton of milk onto the counter.

"How was your weekend, Lyserg?"

"What are you talking about? I hung out with you yesterday."

"Oh, yeah, right." Hao sat down at the table, and Lyserg fell into the seat next to him. Yoh sat across his brother. Mikihisa scanned the table in front of him.

"How long have you two been steady?" Keiko asked curiously.

"Two months and five days," Lyserg responded coolly. Hao smirked and glanced briefly at Yoh, who peeled an orange silently.

"And, um, how long have you been married?" Hao asked, for the sake of asking prying questions. He rolled his eyes and Lyserg laughed.

"Almost a year now!" Keiko said, and it was obvious it was something she was happy about. She flashed her wedding ring and jolted a pancake off the pan onto Hao's plate. "Thank you for asking!"

Hao's posture was perfect, despite the weight of his chunky bookbag pulling him in one direction. Yoh noticed this as he followed his brother and Lyserg down the street to school. It was only a few months before that Lyserg was completely comfortable walking to school next to him. Now being in the same room seemed to make Lyserg jittery and the greenette would disappear from it the first opportunity he got.

So much for 'being friends'.

"Living in a house is so much better than living in a car," Hao was saying. Yoh nodded, although the two didn't notice. The old house had been too small to hold Hao after their parents remarried. So, they had packed up and looked for another house in the neighborhood.

As luck would have it, the house across from the Diethyls had been on sale.

That was back closer to the beginning of junior year. And now it was already the middle of May. Junior year was almost over and summer break was coming.

"Who's renting the car?"

"I thought Horo was going to do it."

"Whoever gets it, I'm driving first, alright?"

"Hao, you're going to kill us all."

"What are you talking about? I got my license first out of all of us! Besides, Ren's just got his and you seem okay when he drives!"

"Ren's responsible enough to drive."

"So's Yoh. So why won't you ride with him?"

Yoh looked up, hearing his name mentioned. Lyserg glanced back at him for the first time that morning and instantly turned away, but Yoh saw fear flash in the slight second he saw those emerald eyes. "Um…well, it's a little awkward…"

_Lyserg smiled, a slow curve that arched smoothly across his flushed face as he linked his arms around Yoh's neck, his hips still swaying gently to the fast beats in the school gym. Yoh chuckled, instantly wrapping his arms around the smaller boy's more feminine hips. No one seemed to notice. Everyone at their school already knew they were an item (one hot item, actually), and everyone else not from the school didn't think much about an oddly colored hair girl dancing with a stoner boy with orange headphones._

"_Are you enjoying yourself?" Yoh asked, talking a bit louder than he normally did in order to be heard over the music._

_Lyserg nodded, the smile still etched on his face. "The question is are _you _enjoying yourself? You don't usually go to these kinds of things."_

_It was true. Yoh was not much of a dance person, truth be told. Lyserg had dragged him to a few before they started going out, but this was only the second time the younger Asakura twin had actually agreed to go. _

"_Well, you really wanted to go to this one, so I decided I'd go with you."_

"_It _is_ Valentine's Day tomorrow," Lyserg said, a playful frown darting across his face. "Why not come?" A smile graced his features again as he leaned upward. "Right?"_

"_Right," Yoh agreed, smiling as he leaned down to gently kiss the boy on the lips. Only if he knew what he would say tomorrow would end it, he would have kissed Lyserg longer and reminded himself to never say those words…_

"Morning, everyone."

As fate would have it, the five were in the same homeroom for junior year, plus the new addition to the group.

"Mourning everyone? Who died?" asked a dark skinned boy sitting on a desk close to the door. Yoh couldn't help but smile a bit at Chocolove McDaniel's joke. Chocolove wasn't a very good comedian, but he tried, and sometimes that itself was hilarious. He had been the new student beginning of junior year, moving over to their quiet neighborhood from New York. First day there, Choco had tied his aqua tie around his head like a hippie through a timewarp, although the golden brass knuckles reading 'McDa' on one and 'niel' on the other prevented many from saying anything.

Although when Hao had asked him if he wanted to fight him near the dumpsters after school, and Choco had looked shocked, the image kinda…jiggled.

"Morning, Choco!" Lyserg aimed an angelic smile toward his African American friend, earning an equally friendly smile. Yoh wondered when Lyserg would smile at him like that.

"Mourning me? I'm not dead yet, I hope!" Choco laughed. The two boys standing behind him didn't seem amused, however.

"You will be if you don't stop cracking those lame ass jokes," Ren Tao muttered, his arms crossed, crinkling his normally crisply ironed white school shirt. His figure was flaunted in dark denim (just a shade lighter and it would a violation of dress code, but it wouldn't be Ren without laughing in the face of authority), showing off his body rivaled only by Lyserg. It was rumored that the girls in the class didn't envy posters of sultry movie stars.

No, they strived to be more like Ren or Lyserg.

Boys in their class. _Boys_.

"Frowning's gonna leave wrinkles," Horokeu (or just plain Horo) Usui said, glancing down at Ren. Over sophomore summer break, Horo had shot up in height and was the tallest boy in the class, at a whopping five eleven. It was barely secret that he had a crush on the relatively shrimpy Ren, but nothing as of late had come of it. However, it was almost common knowledge that Ren had his eyes out for a certain blue-haired someone…but no one was really sure, for everyone who had asked had been thoroughly throttled, save Lyserg who emerged laughing. Ren hadn't responded to the question, but Ren's blushing red face had been enough to cause a laugh attack for the Diethyl which didn't end until lunch time.

It had been a rather noisy history class.

"So's laughing," Ren shot back, reminding Horo of how easy it was to make the Usui crack up. "Anyway, did you do anything for the roadtrip, _Joco_?"

Choco cringed, the remnants of the joke sliding off his face. "Don't call me that. It sounds retarded."

"Like you, but don't change the subject."

Yoh rolled his eyes. Why couldn't his friends ever get along nicely? "Look, we had a deal that we'd never mention that stupid nickname ever again, okay?"

"It's not my fault the school had a typo when it came to your stupid name. Jocolove McDanields. God, I should have known."

Horo snickered, and a content flicker of a smile crossed Ren's face, wiped off as fast as a wet towel wipes off Expo the moment the Chinese boy had noticed Lyserg giving him a meaningful look.

Choco glared at Ren. "For that, _no_, I didn't do anything for the trip, but it looks like you probably did, Mr. Overachiever."

"As a matter of fact, I did. I got us three rooms at a hotel near the border of Niagara Falls, thank you so much, and I printed out directions on where to go."

"Jesus," Horo murmured.

Ren turned on him. "Exactly, coming from someone who the whole stupid 'roadtrip' idea came from. I'm not seeing anything coming from your end, Usui!"

"Hold on, guys," Lyserg said quickly. "Let's not start a fight this early in the morning, alright?"

"Can't you control your idiotic friends?" Hao asked, rolling his eyes dramatically.

"They're your friends too," Lyserg protested, although he smiled when Hao wrapped an arm around his waist. "But we know who my _best_ friend is, don't we?"

"Oh, no, please, no more make out sessions," Choco shouted, covering his eyes. "I _so_ did not want to watch you two swap spit in the library last Thursday."

"No one asked you to watch," Hao smirked, as he planted a kiss on Lyserg's lips. Yoh walked past them calmly, barely glancing at them as he walked over to his locker. He felt Lyserg's eyes on his back for a brief second, but he didn't turn around. As he spun the combination to his hallway locker, he noticed Choco walk up to him. "Hey, Yoh." Choco took a second to laugh at that brilliant pun before snapping to business. "What's up with you and Lyserg today?"

"Nothing. What are you talking about?" Yoh threw his math textbook into his locker with a loud metallic bang.

"I don't know…I don't really know the circumstances about your guys' relationship, but it seems a little different this morning." Choco had been thoroughly stunned to find out the 'cross-dressing green-haired girl' and the 'stoner' were going out the first week he was there. Hao had been the 'long-haired devil incarnate' (which Hao to this day reveled in), Horo had been the 'coffee chugging shorts maniac'…and Ren had been purposely left out after an event that will remained unmentioned.

Ask anyone, it didn't involve violence! No matter what people say about the 'McDa' imprint on Choco's stomach that only started fading away a few weeks ago!

"Nothing's different," Yoh said, pulling out a yellow notebook. "It's the same as last week, and the week before that."

Choco stared at him. "You say you're over him?"

"I never said that," Yoh said, shutting the locker and turned to face Choco. "But I'm not going to say anything. Not if he's fine with Hao."

"But, Yoh…"

"Thanks for worrying, but it's okay." Yoh smiled. "Let's just try and get through this week, alright?"

"Good bye, honey."

"Hmm. Have a nice day, Mickey." Keiko dropped a quick kiss on Mickey's cheek, feeling the unshaved-yet-for-the-day chin of her husband. Mikihisa smiled as she got into her car. As much as he wanted to be the breadwinner of the family, he…um, hadn't landed a job yet (although he'd been there for more than a year!) and was still looking for one. Keiko was still at the firm, working hard with her new business partner.

"Good morning, Kimi!"

"Oh, morning, Ms. Keiko!" Kimi leaned over the secretary's desk. "I'll be in there in a minute with your coffee!"

Keiko nodded as she opened the door to her office, which she shared with her partner. After that case involving the cat stuffed with cocaine, she had been boosted up it the social ladder and finally got the coveted 'window' office (although her old office had a nice view too. But this was _better_.). She walked over to her side of the office, the nice and tidy side. Her desk was in place, the papers stacked up in a nice organized fashion, the pictures of her family littering the desk. Her computer was on standby mode, with a note scribbled on the monitor reading 'Save Power! Turn Me OFF Next Time!'. Keiko laughed, recognizing her partner's handwriting.

As she sat down at her chair, she looked around the office. There was a nice homey leather sofa sitting across from her, flanked by a glass coffee table. The sleek ceiling fan was currently still at the moment. The bookshelf on her side was neatly organized, without a book out of place. She was the poster girl of organization and control.

Her life hadn't always been that way, but…well, life was life.

Her partner wasn't the same, but Keiko didn't mind. Her partner's side of the room was relatively messy; papers were strewn about in a tornado manner and there were pens all over the place. The file cabinets had papers coming out of it and the fern on next to it looked malnourished. The room was symmetrical, but if the sides were twins, Keiko was the straight A getting, neat dressed, smiling teacher's pet while the other was…well, almost like Hao, actually.

"Good morning, Keiko!" Kimi stumbled into the room, holding two cups of coffee. She was dressed in a light gray dress suit, although the blouse was slightly untucked. Probably late again, Keiko thought. Kimi set one blue mug on Keiko's desk. "How's the family?"

"They're peachy, like usual. Yoh's a little broody lately."

"Aw, sweetie. I feel bad for him." Kimi's face fell.

"Anyway, how is it with you?"

"Horo's managing to stay out of trouble, goodness. And Pirka's still the cheerful little girl she was last week!" Kimi's face lit up with a smile as she sipped the other cup of coffee. "And you know what? This is the 375th day I've been sober!"

Keiko smiled too, the happiness on her face relevant. Her life couldn't be more perfect than it was now.

Kimi blinked. "Oh! I guess we should start working, eh?" The phone rang on the desk next to Keiko's at that moment and Kimi rushed to answer it. "Oh, yes, KK's office! … Oh, that's completely fine, Ms. Tao, just fax them over…oh, don't worry about it…oh, yes, Jun, that's right…sorry, you're just so grown up I _must_ call you Ms. Tao!" Kimi giggled as she hung up. "Jun's faxing over the latest case now." Kimi collapsed in the chair to the desk. "We're busy lately, aren't we, partner?"

"Right." Keiko pressed the power button to her computer. That's right, the Asakura/Usui partnership (or KK for Keiko and Kimi) was just starting and it was up and jumping like Hao high on caffeine! Keiko glanced up at the law degree hanging above the fern on Kimi's side of the office.

She couldn't have been more proud of her best friend.

The door to their office opened slightly and revealed Jun Tao, Ren's pretty older sister. She was decked in a pencil skirt and a pure white blouse. "The papers should be faxed, Ms. Usui."

"Thanks." Kimi smiled as she nodded. "You're the best secretary in the world! As good as I was when I was still down there. But you'll get here soon!"

"Eh, thanks, but I really don't want to be a big shot lawyer." Jun chuckled. "My dad would make such a big deal about it…I don't even want to think about it. Oh…and by the way…um…can I leave early today?"

"Why?" Kimi asked, a knowing look on her face. "Is Pyron leaving early to see you?"

Pyron Lee, the Chinese martial artist currently teaching at the community center, was the object of the currently blushing secretary's affections. "Um…yeah…he says the kids are really getting it so he doesn't have to spend so much time on them…"

"Shall we let her off?" Kimi asked, laughter dancing in her eyes as she turned to Keiko.

"Well…" Keiko said in a long dramatic tone, as she flipped open her schedule. "We have a court date scheduled tomorrow and a few deadlines we need to cover…" she improvised as she stared down at her blank page, "so unless you can finish filing last year's cases by noon, you can't go."

"Thanks!" Jun cried, beaming. Keiko smiled, thinking of the single case the two had covered as partners last year. It was their first (and only for a few months) trial, and they had won it.

A pretty big victory in Kimi's book. It was a symbol of victory over her old life and fortune for her life to come.

As Jun skipped out the door, Keiko sighed. "To be young again."

"Says the thirty-two year old hottie lawyer," Kimi said sarcastically. "I should really be saying that…I'm twenty-nine."

The two laughed, the office filling up with the carefree noise.

**ROADTRIP notes** (take them. There will be a test): and the first chapter commences! Let me talk in order of things that appear:

first) titles – most of the titles (except for the next one which I didn't plan this out when I wrote it) will be titles of songs. I do not own them. This is self explanatory.

Second) questions are being asked! Yoh and Lyserg, couple of the freaking century…NOT TOGETHER! This pained me since I love them! But I'm sure all you Hao and Lyserg fans aren't complaining. I'm sure not (you: wait, what did you just say?). besides, they don't get enough fan service anyway.

Third) Ren and Horo…still iffy.

Fourth) Chocolove? Why him, you ask? First of all, he has almost no fan service anyway. Let's not be racist, everyone. He's a funny guy. I also like to pair him with Lyserg, if you've read any of my other stories…only one…but will there be any of that here? Hmm…still iffy.

Fifth) READ THE NEXT CHAPTER! HUNGER FOR IT!


	2. Questions Left Unasked

**Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics. If any of these songs were mine, I wouldn't be writing fanfics.**

Background music: Dead on Arrival – FOB. Why? Because it's the song I'm listening to right now.

Note: Chapter two is finally released! This is possibly the only chapter without a song title because when I was writing this a few weeks ago, I wasn't thinking about that until like, a few days ago. I don't think this one is as good as the first one, but you readers are the judge!

Chapter 2 – Questions Left Unasked, Thus Left Unanswered

Ren grumbled to himself as he clicked the blue Internet Explorer icon on the school computer. Why was he stuck doing all the work during his free periods about this stupid roadtrip to Canada? It made no sense, but in reality, he was the only one capable of doing it.

Hao and Lyserg were too busy making out.

Yoh was brooding too much (no matter what the twin said, Ren was convinced Yoh was still hung up about the breakup).

Horo couldn't go five minutes on the internet before bursting out with, "OH MY GOD, REN, LOOK! IT SAID I JUST WON A FREE LAPTOP! SHOULD I CLICK IT? YES, I SHOULD! CLICK!"

Choco was interested in going on the trip, but not interested in actually doing anything about it.

Thus, leaving him, the most reasonable and shrewd person in their group to do all the work.

Not that he couldn't handle it. He was a Tao, jeez. 

An icon beeped on the side of the screen and Ren noticed the school instant message system blinking. It was completely unnecessary, but the school wanted to promote 'the new technological age' and even the teachers had a screen name. Hideous, yes.

Usui. Ren quickly typed in 'car rentals' in the Google search bar before responding to Horo's online chatter. Where was that boy if he had access to a computer!

UsuiH: HEY REN WATS UP!

TaoR: stop with the caps, you animal, and get your ass into the computer room.

UsuiH: no way, you'll make me work, you slave driver.

TaoR: it was your idea, idiot.

UsuiH: yes, it was. Note I say 'was'. You kinda took over it.

TaoR: taking control so we don't leave with only a tank of gas is 'taking over'?

UsuiH: um, yeah

TaoR: so where are you anyway?

UsuiH: library. Did you know it's Hao and Lyserg's famous make out spot? They're in the corner right now. I'm surprised Sati's not doing anything about it.

Sati was the school librarian. 

TaoR: don't give me details, please

UsuiH: okay. So right now, Hao's kinda doing some kind of grope fest and you can hear Lyserg's moans from across the room…um…I think clothes are coming off

TaoR: once I find you, you're going to get it

UsuiH: just kidding, Ren. You know Lyserg…he always says he's going to do someone, but you know he's the biggest prude in the class. He wouldn't even do Yoh, you know.

TaoR: I'm surprised you know that.

UsuiH: Yoh told me

TaoR: about that…what do you think's going about with Yoh? He's so emo lately

UsuiH: if you ask me, Yoh's been emo since the breakup.

TaoR: let me get this straight, who broke up with whom?

UsuiH: apparently Lyserg broke up with Yoh…something about space or something

TaoR: really?

UsuiH: yeah, believe it or not. I thought Lyserg was completely in love with Yoh. I know Yoh was.

TaoR: god, I know. Getting all sappy and gushy. Ick.

UsuiH: yeah, but love sonnets are better than make out sessions. SHUT UP!

TaoR: god, sucks to be you. But I'm surprised you know the word 'sonnets'

UsuiH: well, I _am_ sitting next to the library dictionary, so…

TaoR: you know what that is?

UsuiH: yeah, fool. 

TaoR: retard

UsuiH: I love you

Ren paused, his hands suspended over the keyboard. The Google page had long since loaded, but he had already forgotten about it. What should he say back? Reprimand Horo for saying something like that on the Internet? Say something snappy back? Hmm…

TaoR: me too

Ren blushed as he pressed delete. No way was he sending that back. As he started typing something else, he felt a breath on his neck. "I never knew you felt that way, Ren."

"Holy shit, Horo!" Ren jumped a foot in the air, earning glares from everyone else in the room. The computer teacher thankfully wasn't there to note him about his language, but at the moment, Ren didn't care. His face burning hotter than fire, Ren quickly tried to cover the computer screen, but it was all in vain: Horo was two heads taller (a head and a half, according to Ren) and he'd already seen anyway. 

"Did you know the library's only a few yards away? Only a few steps away for a track runner like me no less." Horo cocked his head. "And in case you didn't notice, I logged out a few seconds ago."

Ren glanced back at the screen and saw the green button next to his name, but the red offline button next to Horo's. His heart was still pounding and he was shaking slightly. "W-why didn't you tell me you were here?"

"I though you'd know." Horo straightened up and collapsed in a chair next to Ren. "You didn't really think I was going to stay with Hao and Lyserg, did you?"

Ren exited out of the instant messaging, feeling his face still hot.

"So do you feel the same way or was that some of your famous sarcasm?"

Ren opened his mouth to shoot something mean back but found nothing coming out. Horo smirked. "You look stupid if you keep your mouth open like that, you know."

Ren shut it and instantly opened his mouth again to say something sharp. "Your mom!" he managed to say, realizing how stupid and retarded that comeback was.

Horo's eyes widened and suddenly the room echoed with his laughter. "Your mom!" he shouted. "Your mom is the best comeback you can come back with?" He continued laughing until tears came to his eyes. "Ren, I though you were smart…but _your mom_?"

Ren bit his lip, feeling the urge to throttle Horo rise. He was even more pissed knowing that he wouldn't be able to fully kill Horo…not when the boy was looking at him like that. Cute, like a little puppy on a doorstep.

Ew, that sounded like something Jun was saying lately after dates with that punk…Pyron, was it? He felt his face go up a few degrees just thinking about it. Sometimes Horo just had him in the palm of his hand.

"What's so funny?" Choco asked, appearing out of nowhere.

"You should…have…heard Ren!" Horo choked. "I asked him if he was being sarcastic and he just came back with 'Your mom!'"

Choco chuckled but frowned when he realized he didn't know what the joke was about. "Wait, so what was Ren being sarcastic about?"

"Well, I was IMing him in the library and I said…" 

"Not another word!" Ren shouted, shoving his hand over Horo's mouth, causing incomprehensible mumbles to sound out. 

_To the love I left my conscience, pressed between the pages of Bible in the drawer, what d-did it ever do for me I say…_

Yoh sighed and checked his watch. Yup, Hao and Lyserg were late again. He was left standing on the lawn alone, listening to his IPod and emo songs. Where was Hao? Maybe they decided to make out randomly after last period…dear god, no. They'd take forever then. Yoh looked up as he saw Lyserg open the doors and step out, calling good bye to someone still in the school. The greenette didn't seem to notice Yoh as he stretched on top of the steps and stared out at the cloudy day in front of him. 

_It never calls me when I'm down, love never wanted me, but I took it anyway…put your ear to the speaker…choose love's sympathy…_

Lyserg looked so peaceful just then, a shadow of a smile on his face, clear green eyes. Yoh glanced down as he remembered how they had been so clouded two months ago.

"_Listen Yoh…um…I think we should give each other space for a while…" _

_To the love I left my conscience with… through the keyholes, I watched you dress, kiss, and tell…loose lips sink ships…_

_Lyserg had sounded so anxious on the phone so Yoh invited him over to say what he needed to say when he said, 'We need to talk.' Lyserg looked so scared in front of him that Yoh wondered what on earth could have happened. Hao was after school at basketball practice with Horo, his mother was at work, and his dad was off grocery shopping. The two were alone to themselves._

"_Wait…why? Is it me?"_

"_Um…no…not exactly…" Lyserg was avoiding eye contact and looked so small that Yoh wanted to pull him close, to tell him it was okay whatever happened. But it wasn't the appropriate time to do that, so Yoh didn't. He remembered Lyserg looked up at him for a moment, seeing fear and apparent sadness in the glossy emerald eyes, made so by tears refused to be shed. "It's just…I think we should…not exactly see other people, but…"_

"_Was it what I said yesterday? I…"_

"_Don't talk about that," Lyserg whispered. "Please don't say anything about that." Yoh shut his mouth. _

"_We can stay friends," Lyserg continued in a soft voice. _

_Yoh didn't say anything for a moment. "Is there any chance…"_

"_I don't know. I…" Lyserg trailed off, and suddenly he was gone. Yoh blinked and Lyserg had turned and left the kitchen, opening the screen door and the younger twin watched the Diethyl walk across the street back to his house._

_He vaguely remembered telling Hao about the breakup and vaguely remembered his brother looking interested before suddenly leaving the house. The next day, it appeared that his ex and brother were going out…_

Yoh shut off his IPod and slid the headphones down around his neck. Lyserg was looking around for his fellow commuters to home and hadn't spotted him yet. "Lyserg!"

Lyserg jumped and turned to Yoh, who was walking toward him. Yoh thought it was funny that Lyserg wasn't trying to bolt, but then again, maybe the boy had been petrified on the spot. 

"Where's Hao?"

"Um…h-he's talking with Silva…" Lyserg's eyes instantly averted the moment Yoh stopped in front of him. Yoh noticed the smaller boy's hands grip the strap of his carrier bag, those smaller hands that seemed to be shaking at the moment. 

"Oh okay…" Yoh shifted his weight. This was an awkward silence. Where was Hao when he was needed? 

"So, um…how's things with Hao?"

"Okay, I guess…"

Another awkward silence.

"Um…you know what I heard today?" Lyserg asked, causing Yoh to wonder what it could be that would cause Lyserg to actually talk to him. "What?"

"Anna likes you."

Anna Kyoyama was a scary girl. She was toughest girl in the grade (maybe in the world), beasting every boy at every sport possible (she was one of Horo's rivals, and Horo didn't like making girls his rivals very often). She wasn't in any teams, however, because 1) she couldn't give a damn about team spirit and even though every other team in the district knew her and feared her 2) so did everyone else at their school. No one really knew where she stood when it came to cliques, because she always hung out by herself. Anna wasn't a prep exactly, although she always wore a bright red scarf that screamed 'PREP', but she wasn't necessarily a Goth either when she always wore black. She didn't seem like a person concerned with looks, though her dirty blonde hair had streaks of brown in it, looking as if she had done it in her sink last night. She didn't wear make up but managed to look pretty anyway.

No one wanted to talk to her. She was a creep job when she twirled the blue beads around her neck and muttered under her breath. Rumors had it she was either a gang leader or a cult member. 

"Anna, hmm? She's okay, I guess," Yoh said offhanded, still preoccupied with trying not to make the moment more awkward. He missed the surprised look on Lyserg's face. 

"So you're interested in her?"

Before Yoh could respond, Hao suddenly slammed the door behind them open, causing both of them to jump. "HEY chums! Let's go home now, alright?"

"What did Silva want to talk to you about?" Yoh asked.

"Oh, things," Hao shrugged. "You know, the usual. Why didn't I do my homework, why did I skip seventh period…you know, I think he's getting gray hair!"

"Caused by you," Yoh said, rolling his eyes. 

"What's wrong, Lyserg?"

Yoh turned. Lyserg's face was red and he looked worried. Hearing his name, he looked up and blinked. "Me? Oh, nothing."

"Are you sure?" Hao frowned. "What were you two talking about?"

"Anna likes me," Yoh piped up.

"Does she? Creeps me out, that girl." Hao shuddered. "And not a lot of girls do that to me. Cool to do crimes with…but ruthless."

"She seems okay to me," Yoh said. 

"She never _talks_ to you or even _looks_ at you," Hao said, rolling his eyes. "If she doesn't do anything to you, duh she's not going to scare you shitless. Then again, you're one of the people she actually doesn't terrorize. Maybe she _does_ like you."

"Maybe," Yoh said, smiling. He missed the look Lyserg shot at him again. 

Hao noticed it and raised his eyebrows. This was getting interesting.

"See you later, Ren. Your mom…" Horo laughed as Ren reached over the slammed the car door behind him. He turned and waved as Ren pulled out of the apartment parking and drove away. God that boy could be so weird sometimes.

"Hey, Horo!" Pirka called as she ran out of the apartment lobby, followed by Tamao, who nodded shyly at him. "Pirka and me are going to go to the Rite Aid on the corner to get some gum!"

"Is mom home yet?"

"No!" Pirka ran out of the sliding doors, turning to call Tamao to hurry up. Horo shrugged and turned to the mail room to check their mail box. Hmm…nothing interesting today. Horo carried the letters to the elevator, taking a moment to greet the front desk secretary, a friendly woman named Kororo Corey. She liked wearing headbands over her jet black hair cut to a bob, and today she was wearing a pink (and rather Pirka-ish) headband as she waved to Horo. "Hello Horo, how was school?"

"Okay." Horo entered the elevator and pressed the 3 button. As the box vibrated as it elevated, Horo listened to the dull elevator music. Tacky, just like the carpet under his feet. But hey, it beat the rundown shack they used to live in.

The doors slid open and Horo passed a sign reading 'Floor 3' as he walked down the hallway to the Usui's apartment. A few weeks after his mother had become a lawyer and joined with Keiko, they had moved out of their old house to this apartment complex closer to the school. Pirka finally had a room, and he didn't have to sleep on the floor anymore. He pried the keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door. Stepping inside, the tall boy threw the letters on the kitchen counter and walked past a small living room with a cheap coffee table and a calico couch across from a trusty albeit rundown television. Okay, so they were richer than they used to be, but not rich enough to buy flat screen HD televisions.

Ren was such a spoiled brat.

Horo opened the door to his room, which was a bit bigger than a normal bathroom. Throwing his book bag on the ground next to a stack of clothes, Horo crossed his room and collapsed on his bed (that he was messed up from that morning) and pulled his bass guitar closer. After a few paychecks that his mother said he could keep (after all, they were finally making a steady income that was more than a few hundreds a year), he had managed to buy a bass guitar to actually practice on. Too bad junior year had been so busy they hadn't really been able to practice. That and Hao would always annoy the crap out of all of them when they tried to practice: either that older Asakura would just grab Lyserg out of no where or interrupt with annoying questions. Hao couldn't read music and they didn't have an instrument for him anyway. 

Things were looking up for him, finally. 

And Ren was starting to actually show interest him after…what, years of unrequited feelings? 

Did Ren really meant what he had said? Okay, typed? 

Your mom indeed...

Horo wasn't aware that he had dozed off, but when he came to an hour later, he heard Pirka talking in her room to Tamao and heard rustlings in the kitchen. His mom was home.

"Hey, mom," Horo called, poking head out of his room.

"Hmm, dear. How was school?"

"Fine." Why did every adult find it so necessary to ask that stupid question? "I got the mail."

Kimi glanced at the pile of mail and put down her briefcase on a stool. Flipping through it, she looked bored. "Junk…junk…coupons …catalogue…hmm?"

"What is it?"

"Something from Japan…" Kimi Usui frowned as she fished out a letter from the bottom of the pile. "From Hokkaido…"

"Really?" Horo walked out of his room next to his mother. He hadn't remembered seeing a letter postmarked from Japan…as he looked at the cream colored envelope, he realized this was the letter he thought was a prank. Looking at it again, he recognize the Japanese for 'Usui'. He wasn't well versed in Japanese and he took Spanish at school. He was American, what can you expect? He hadn't been to Japan often anyway, so who expected him to know it?

"Who's it from?"

"I don't recognize the address…" Kimi ripped open the letter.

"What's going on?" Pirka asked as she entered the kitchen (which was connected to the living room without a wall), followed by Tamao. Tamao looked shy (as always) as she quietly greeted Kimi. "You two don't usually read letters together."

"It's from Japan," Horo said. Pirka's eyes widened. "What's it about?" 

Kimi frowned as she unfolded the letter. "Japanese…gosh, I haven't read it for so long…let me see…"

As their mother read it in silence, her two children exchanged worried looks, as Tamao attempted to melt back in Pirka's room as not to interrupt this family moment. At the end, Kimi put the letter down and stared straight ahead.

"What's wrong, mom?"

"It's from your…your grandparents," Kimi said, as if she couldn't believe it herself.

"Um…yours or dad's parents?" Pirka asked.

"Your father's."

Horo and Pirka exchanged looks again. The Usui part of the family was estranged from them and it was rare they even contacted them. No birthday cards or Christmas letters came from them, so why out of the blue?

"They want us go to back to Japan."

"What?" Horo frowned. "Like…to talk with us?"

"Yes, that too…"

"That too?" Pirka asked accursedly. "They want us to _move_ to Japan!"

Kimi nodded slowly. "They say that after years of thinking, they said that your father probably didn't want his family to be separated like this. They're willing to pay for our welfare back in Japan and they want us to regain the bond families have."

"No! No way am I leaving! I like America!" Pirka shouted. "I have friends here! I have a life here! And I don't even know Japanese except for ohiyo and konnichiwa and stuff like that!" 

"Yeah…" Horo said slowly. "You're not thinking about it, are you?"

"Well, we'd be better off…" Kimi said thoughtfully. "I could raise you two in a more friendlier environment…"

"MOM! In case you didn't notice, we're pretty happy here! I'd rather be poor and happy than…than rich and alone! Horo and I have friends here and we're not druggies or gangsters (Horo smiled at this) or anything bad! Kororo is nice and so are our neighbors! You have a job here! You have friends too!" Pirka shook her head. "You go tell them no, mom. Go and write back, 'No thank you we are NOT interested!'"

"Slow down, Pirka! I never said we were going!" Kimi laughed. "If you feel so passionate about this, I'll think about it."

"Think no, mom!"

"Alright, alright! Let's not talk about this anymore, alright?" She glanced at Tamao, who was peeking out at them behind the door of Pirka's room. "Let's not scare our friends, okay?"

"Tamao's not scared!" Pirka shouted, still into it. Tamao gulped. Horo laughed. 

Kimi chuckled as her children walked away, Horo to watch television (when did that boy do his homework?) and Pirka went back to her room. But the letter stayed as fresh in her mind as the present. 

TOBECONTINUED…

Endnote: Um, IM flirting? That's so fifty years ago! Still, at the time I had writer's block, so maybe that would explain why it was a bit odd. I'm still going through the writer's block at the moment. My brain might have a strike. But I'm getting over it and so hopefully the end, which has been partially formulated will be great. Keep reading! Keep reviewing! Tell your friends to read too! Cause reviews are the only things getting me going through this writers block at the moment!


	3. Tangled

**Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I woudn't need to write fanfics. ****If any of these songs were mine, I wouldn't be writing fanfics.**

Background music: Tangled – Maroon 5

Note: Chapter 3 happens to be part of a double release. Why? Because I'm not sure when I can get access to a computer lately. And I can't wait to continue the story! 

Chapter 3 – Tangled

Lyserg sighed as he closed the door to his room. Today had been _awkward_…letting his carrier book bag fall off his shoulder onto the floor, Lyserg sighed again and sat down on his bed. Sitting on his pillow was a green stuffed cat, one of those cottony Beanie Baby on steroids kind of stuffed animals. His mother must have gone through his room again and found it stuffed in the back of his closet. Pulling it close, Lyserg looked at it again. A few stitches were loose from when he used to hug it all the time. Raising his hand to throw it back into his open closet, Lyserg closed his eyes.

"_Anna? She's okay._"

Lyserg's eyes shot open again, remembering what Yoh had said an hour ago. Anna was okay? Did it mean Yoh had no problem going out with that girl? Lyserg let his hand drop, still holding on to an arm of the green cat. He looked down at its cheerful expression again. 

Didn't it used to have a checkered green ribbon around its neck? Lyserg let it go and went to his desk and went through the drawers…the ribbon had started to fray at the edges and he had taken it off to preserve it. He hadn't seen it in a long time…where did he put it? 

That's right, he had pressed it in one of his books. Reaching above the desk to the shelf, Lyserg pulled out a Harry Potter book (the fifth book, bought in Britain without the Americanized words – the first one was the _Philosopher's _Stone, not the Sorcerer's Stone) and lo and behold, the friendly looking checkered ribbon flashed at him from a page which he had stopped reading. He had lost time for reading after he started going out…kitty cornering the page, Lyserg pulled the ribbon out and went back to the stuffed animal, lying there all by its lonesome.

He had thrown out all his stuffed animals a long time ago.

People thought he was the kind of person who would keep all those kiddy mementos, didn't they? Lyserg though as he tied the ribbon around the cat's neck. He was always bubbly and cute, so everyone thought he was an innocent, childish boy. But he wasn't. He had (at times) a dirty mind and personally, he hated small children. 

Yoh knew that.

Pulling the ribbon tight, Lyserg stared down at the kitty, its button eyes still as glossy as they were the day he had received this gift. Curious, Lyserg searched for the tag and found it attached to the tail.

Made in England.

Lyserg hugged the stuffed cat close.

"Guess how many times we made out today, utouto?"

"I don't know."

"Three. Once in the bathroom during a free period, one time at the library, and once after lunch."

"Great."

Hao cocked his head as he sat on his bed. Yoh was doing (oh god, this part of his brother wasn't his brother) homework, lying stomach down on the bed. "How come I feel like you're not bothered enough by this fact?"

"Because you always make out with Lyserg at school ever since you started going out," Yoh said calmly, erasing a mistake. Why did 2 and 5 have to look so similar?

"Yoh, I can't believe you still take our relationship so calmly."

"What do you expect me to do?"

Hao shrugged. "I don't know. Fight for him, I guess."

"If Lyserg's happy going out with you, why should I do anything?"

"Yoh, you don't like making trouble do you?"

Yoh nodded, turning the page of his math textbook.

"You were always like this even when I met you. You're too afraid of hurting someone to tell them the truth. I mean, everyone knows you still like Lyserg _a lot_ but you don't say or do anything about it."

"Like I said –"

"How do you know Lyserg's happy going out with me?"

Yoh looked up. "What do you mean? He's gone out with you and I don't see him complaining."

"Have you considered he might not be complaining in front of you?"

"I don't think he gets you alone just to say he doesn't like going out with you. Besides, he has free will; if he didn't like you, he'd break up with you."

Hao sighed exasperatedly. "Utouto, you think so simply. Lyserg's mind is much too complex for you to wrap yours around."

Yoh rolled his eyes. "If you want to insult me, can you do it when I'm not doing something productive?"

"I'm not trying to insult you, it's the truth." Hao paused. "I like going out with Lyserg."

"I can see that," Yoh said, turning back to the paper. 

"I like Lyserg."

"Mm-hmm."

Hao stopped. He had realized this for some time already. Did he really want to tell Yoh? Did he really actually want to ruin the relationship he was currently in? After all, he wasn't kidding when he said he liked Lyserg. And he didn't think Lyserg was just going out with him for kicks. He didn't think Lyserg was as interested in him as he had been interested in Yoh, but there still was some spark of attraction.

Whatever. It was fun to watch anyway. Hao shrugged and grabbed Yoh's IPod.

Chocolove opened the door to his house and was instantly greeted with two small children at his feet.

"Choco! Choco! Chocolate!"

"Hey guys!" Choco stepped into the house not unlike one would trying to dodge a dog trying to pounce at them through the screen. His cousins could be handfuls sometimes. "What did you two do in preschool today?"

"We drawed pictures!" the girl, Mary-Ann, chirped.

"We threw blocks at Mr. Blocken today!" the boy, Matthew, shouted, looking proud of himself. Choco didn't know whether to laugh or grimace. The daycare/preschool down the street was run by the superintendent, Mr. Blocken, who was an avid fan of Legos and his two pet rats. He could come off a bit obsessed, but he was technically a nice guy.

The décor of the preschool, which included multi-colored Legos, could use a touch up, though.

"Welcome back," his aunt called from the kitchen, her dark skin a contrast to the yellow apron she was wearing over a white T-shirt and jeans. "They've been waiting for you ever since school let out."

"Yeah?" Choco dropped his book bag down in the dining room and followed his cousins into the den. He noticed his uncle's laptop on the desk.

"Is dad home?"

"Yeah," Mary-Ann said, clutching to his arm. "He took a sick day cause he was coughing this morning. Anyway, let's play video games!"

"Guitar Hero!" Matthew shouted, running to the television.

"Halo!" Mary-Ann shouted, then covered her mouth. "Oops…sorry, Chocolate, I didn't mean it."

"Don't worry about it," Choco said quickly. "Let's play Guitar Hero."

Before long, the two were strumming to the notes on the television, forgetting all about Choco, who was sitting on a couch, watching them. He didn't mind his cousins calling him Chocolate. It was a family thing, he guessed. His aunt and uncle called him that, so it was okay. He was a bit touched that Mary-Ann had apologized for mentioning Halo.

He hated that game. So much shooting and killing. Hadn't he already gone through all that in New York?

He hadn't lived in the most tamest neighborhoods in New York. There were gang fights almost every day and it was a dangerous place to live in. There were no exceptions: on Christmas last year, while he and his parents were trying to enjoy the holiday to its fullest, a few shots rang out. As fate would have it, his mom and dad were standing at the window, next to the tree to watch Choco open his gifts. They had been hit fatally, and one bullet had grazed his forehead. There was a dark red scar where it had scratched him. He had been lucky he had tripped the moment he had heard the first shot or else he would have been killed for sure. 

He had moved to a foster home for small children, despite the fact he was already sixteen. Before he could think, he was attending his parents' funeral and before that itself was over, he was pulled away and flown to where he was now, to live with his relatives. Choco absentminded reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of sunglasses, one of the gifts his parents had managed to buy for him that fateful Christmas. Slipping it on, Choco closed his eyes. It was almost ritual to wear these glasses everyday, no matter what.

"You're going to lose your eye sight wearing sunglasses inside," his aunt said, standing in the doorway of the den. Choco sat up and slid them up his forehead. "Sorry mom."

"You don't have to call me mom. I'm not your mom. I'm your mom's sister, Mae. Call me Mae."

Choco shrugged. It didn't matter since she was being his motherly figure anyway. "How's Uncle Jeff?"

"He's got a cold. Nothing that won't go away in a few days."

Choco nodded. "Good." He slid the sunglasses over his eyes again.

"How was school?"

"You know, the usual." Choco shrugged again. Mae had found it surprising that he had made friends with oriental boys, but she wasn't complaining. Choco hadn't been social in New York and she was thankful he had friends to lean on here. 

"How's the roadtrip going?"

"Good, I guess. Ren's on it."

"Are you passing New York on your way to Canada?"

Choco raised his eyebrows. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Depends. What're you thinking?"

"That I go visit my parents' graves."

"Well, I was thinking you'd get me some pie there, but that too." Mae smiled, a cunning arch on her face. "They'd be proud of you, you know."

"Hmm."

"Go do your homework," she said, turning back to the kitchen. "And get the M's washed up. God knows what they touch while playing Guitar Hero."

Ren slid into the multi-story garage, feeling bored. Sometimes people new to the community would drive into their garage and enter their house, asking where the food court was. For that reason, they now had better security systems and now a gatekeeper. 

His father hadn't been too thrilled when Ren asked if he could drive to school instead of having a butler drive him.

"You'll be killed! I can't have my heir killed!"

"If I let myself be killed, them I'm don't really deserve to be the heir of the Tao business, do I?" Ren had asked coolly. His father hadn't been able to come up with a reason against that, and the reasoning was very Tao, so his father relented. Jun didn't have to go to such lengths; En loved his children (although some might wonder what kind of twisted love it was), but he was…shall we say…a bit old-fashioned. In other words, sexist. He felt Jun had to withhold the Tao honor, but she didn't need as much protection as the heir deserved. Jun didn't have a problem with that. She saw it as more freedom. For this reason, En didn't seem affected when she had announced she was a secretary and was going out with a community center teacher. If Ren had said this, well…

Ren didn't like going home much. His mother wasn't around often (always doing some kind of charity work here, some community work there) and his father wasn't a friendly 'father son bonding' type. Plus, he opened the door to see his sister and Pyron making out. 

Why did he think that going home was going to save him from watching people make out? 

"I'll go drive around a few blocks and come back," Ren sighed, turning around and reaching for his keys.

"Sorry! Ren, you don't have to go!" Jun pulled out and walked over to her younger brother. Ren turned to see his sister decked out in a jean shirt (they made denim shirts?) and a skirt made from blouse material. His sister's unique fashion hadn't changed despite she couldn't dress like that work. "Stay and talk with me and Pyron!"

"What could I possibly have to say to the two of you?" Ren asked, his hand still on the doorknob. 

"I don't know…your personal life?"

"Okay, now I don't want to stay," Ren said, turning the doorknob.

"Oh come now!" Jun pressed her hand against the door, preventing Ren from opening it. God, his sister was stronger than she looked. "Come and tell us about yourself!" Jun grabbed her brother's shoulders and pushed him to the couch across from Pryon, who was smiling sheepishly at him. Ren didn't like Pyron much. He kept Jun from being at home, and he had so many bruises he looked purple. He looked like a big ol' bruise himself. 

"So!" Jun collapsed on the couch across from him and leaned on Pyron. "Tell us about Horokeu!"

"What?" Ren felt his face heat up. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, come on! I saw the way you looked at him when he was here on New Years! You used to like Yoh but then he started going out with that pretty Lyserg…by the way, how are they doing?"

"First of all, they've broken up, second…I though you were watching them at New Years!"

"I was. Lyserg and Yoh are so cute together. But I hafta watch my own kid brother!" 

"Horokeu seems like a strange girl's name," Pyron said, frowning.

"He's a guy!" Ren and Jun shouted at the same time. Ren looked down, feeling his face grow even more red.

"Ah, I see," Pyron said, sounding so understanding that Ren wanted to throw something at him. 

"I'll see you two later!" Ren shouted, standing up and walking to the door. "And I _don't_ like Horo!"

"He says that," Ren heard Jun tell Pyron, "but watch him go over to the Usui's house. He's probably thinking of going there right now."

Damn. He was. 

Well, he'd show her.

"Hey, don't stand there and let me in."

Lyserg blinked. "What are you doing here, Ren?"

"Trying to escape my family," Ren said, standing on Lyserg's doorstep. "Now can I come in?"

"Oh, yeah, I guess." Lyserg stepped aside and let Ren in. "Why aren't you at Yoh…I mean, Hao's house?"

"They live at the same place," Ren pointed out, and raised his eyebrows as he watched Lyserg squirm. "Besides, I can't stand the sight of Hao anyway. I don't know how you can."

"Um…then why aren't you at Horo's?"

Ren frowned. "That's the reason I'm not at home."

"Oh." Pause. "Choco?"

"I think you don't want me here."

"Oh, no! I don't care, but I was just wondering…you don't come over here often so…" Lyserg shrugged.

"I'm just staying for an hour," Ren said, walking through Lyserg's house to the fridge. "My sister's with her boyfriend again."

"Oh. The tae kwan do teacher person?" 

"Yeah." Ren pulled out a Coke and tossed Lyserg one. Lyserg apparently didn't want it, cause he just put it back on the counter. Ren looked around. "Are your parents out?"

"My dad's still on duty and my mom's with her editor."

"What's her latest story about?"

"Why, are you gonna read it?" Lyserg smirked. "Anyway, it's about two childhood friends who suddenly break up and it chronicles them picking up the pieces."

"Sounds a lot like your life," Ren commented, taking a drink from the can. Lyserg's eyes widened. "You think?"

"Who are the characters?"

"Um…Leif and Angel?"

"Let's see…Leif…leaf…Yoh…and you know your mother calls you angel a lot." (1)

Lyserg's face drained of color. "No wonder she kept asking me questions after the breakup. Shit." Lyserg slid onto a stool and covered his face. "She said it was her best work yet but she wouldn't let me read it…"

Ren chuckled. "Your mother is so evil." 

Lyserg groaned.

"So…um, the kitchen is a bit boring. Can I visit your room?"

"Oh, yeah. Sure." Lyserg got up, although his face was still pink. "Follow me."

Ren was struck with how…clean Lyserg's room was. It seemed so Lyserg, so Ren hadn't expected anything different. Something was out of place though…

Ren walked over to Lyserg's bed and picked up a stuffed cat sitting on the pillow. "This looks familiar. Who gave it to you?"

He turned when Lyserg didn't answer right away. The greenette was clutching at his sleeve, looking down. Ren nodded as he put it down. "Oh yeah. I forgot. I was there when he bought it."

"Hmm?"

"Yeah. He wasn't sure what to get you for Christmas so he dragged me along. Like I'd know what to get you." Ren snorted. "Yoh really wanted to get you something special."

Lyserg didn't say anything, his eyes still focused on the floor.

"He picked that out by himself, you know? I was personally shopping for gifts myself, when he just kinda…jumped and he was holding that cat and asking me if you'd like it. I didn't even say anything and he was like, 'I don't care what you think, I think it's cute and he'd like it'. And that was it."

More silence.

"He really took a long time. I was checking out and he came back when I finished paying, saying that he'd looked through all fifty of the stuffed animals and found you the best one." Ren stopped short as he saw Lyserg still standing there. "You didn't know that?"

"No." Lyserg fidgeted for a second. "Did he really do that?"

"Yeah." Ren took another drink of Coke. "Why did you break up with him anyway? He was really in love with you, you know. And I say that seriously, not just like 'oh he liked you'. I mean the big L word."

"Um, okay, let's talk about something else, okay?" Ren looked at Lyserg, noting the boy's discomfort at the subject. Ren shrugged. "Okay, I'll go then. See you tomorrow, Lyserg."

"Okay."

"I'll see myself out." Ren stood up and walked out the bedroom, closing the door behind him. Pausing for a minute, Ren turned around and opened the door a crack. Lyserg was sitting on the bed, hugging the green cat tightly. He was shaking slightly, as if he was crying, but Ren wasn't sure. He shut the door again quietly and left.

Tobecontinued

this is actually a reference to LSD's nickname, Angel Tears. And Lyserg's sort of an angel himself, isn't he?

Note: choco's past is semi-explained…more of sugary yohxlyserg past. Hao turns out to be a thoughtful person, unlike how crazy many seem to want to portray him. I'm being real here. After all, Hao is the oldest one in the manga, so technically he should be the most mature and calm. Wait up, and while you are, review!


	4. Numa Numa

**Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics. If any of these songs were mine, I wouldn't be writing fanfics.**

Background music: The Numa Numa Song – by that one group which I'm not sure because it's foreign…but I think you know what I'm talking about.

Note: I just realized a few days ago that the format of my stories is a little odd. On the Microsoft Word document, there are lines that signal where one part ends and another begins, but apparently they don't show up on the fanfic format. So it all looks like a bunch of tangled words. So starting from here, hopefully it will be corrected and the story will be more clear…the beginning's a bit weird, but I couldn't figure out how to rewrite it without completely taking it out. Writer's block. 

Chapter 4 – Numa Numa

"Happy Birthday, utouto!"

Yoh's eyes shot awake as he felt something hop onto his bed, nearly breaking the springs. "HAO! Get off!"

"Gooooood morning, dear seventeen year old utouto!" 

"Go away."

"No."

"Ag! Hao!" Yoh sat up. "Yes, good morning, happy birthday! Now let me sleep. We have five more minutes…"

"Yeah, actually we have two more hours." Hao pointed to the clock. Four forty-five.

"God Hao…" Yoh muttered, then opened his eyes again as he noticed Hao was fully dressed. "We have two more hours before school. And that's not even the uniform."

"I know. I went over to Lyserg's."

"Hmm?" Yoh closed his eyes.

"He wasn't awake."

"I would think so."

"But guess what I saw?"

"What?"

"You know that thing you gave him for Christmas? That green dog or whatever?"

"Green cat, yeah?"

"He was hugging it in his sleep."

Yoh opened his eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"I climbed up the tree to his room's window and I looked in through a crack in the curtains and he was hugging your stuffed animal thing."

"Okay."

"Come on, utouto. He was practically surgically attached to that thing for a sixteen year old the first few weeks you gave him it. Like a little kid with his new toy. Do you think he'd get it out and think 'hm, I think I'll go to sleep with it after I broke up with Yoh'?"

"What are you saying?" Yoh asked, sounding sleepy but much more awake in his mind.

"I don't know. That maybe he's still hung up on you?"

"Go to sleep, Hao," Yoh groaned, pulling the covers over his head. "We're done talking about this."

"Come on, Yoh. It interests you, doesn't it?"

"I told you, if he really liked me he wouldn't have broken up with me. Besides, why are you making it sound like he does? I thought you said you were interested in making this thing a long term relationship."

"I do, but I don't like wasting my time." Hao got off the bed and put his hands on his hips. "Yoh, you're _so_ unromantic. You make me sick. Good night."

"Good morning, you mean."

"Yeah, yeah." There was a shuffling as Yoh heard Hao rip the clothes off and throw them on the desk before crawling into bed. After a while, Yoh heard Hao's breath slow down to sleep, but he was wide awake. 

"Lyserg," he murmured, before deciding it was useless to think about it that early in the morning. He'd think about it when he was more awake.

Well, he wasn't very much awake after two hours. His body had gone back to bed the second the alarm went off. Hao seemed as chipper as he was two hours ago.

"Happy birthday!"

"Hmm…"

"Okay, let's go to school!" Yoh opened his eyes to watch Hao pulling his pants on. Too happy. Hao was too happy. "Too much caffeine…" Yoh mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Yoh trudged into the kitchen, half asleep. One year older…one year tired…er. He jumped as he heard Lyserg's voice.

"Happy birthday, Yoh…"

Lyserg blinked and turned. Lyserg was looking at him, half expectant half reluctant. At once, the kitchen became death quiet. Hao, sitting next to the greenette, sipped his black coffee quietly, observing the whole scene. Keiko had made a whole scene of turning around from the stove, as Mikihisa straightened his paper, looking over the top before turning back to the headlines.

"Um, thanks."

"Hey," Hao said, nudging Lyserg with his elbow. "Why don't you give Yoh something like you gave me?"

"What did I give you?" Lyserg asked, looking surprised.

"A kiss," Hao said simply.

_Oh no. His onii-chan was just going to make it worse. Why did Hao always have to do things like this? _"Um, you don't have to…"

"No don't be shy!" Hao ignored the two's discomfort and shoved him closer to Yoh. Keiko gave her older son a look, as he just shrugged. 

Lyserg hesitated before stepping forward a bit closer to Yoh. _Oh no. Was Lyserg really going to do this? No, he was already going out with Hao!_ He turned to Hao, who gave him a _DO IT_ look. Hao's conversation from last night suddenly rang through his mind.

Damn, why the kitchen, where EVERYONE had to look at them? The way Lyserg was looking at him was turning him on.

In fact, actually, everything about Lyserg turned him on.

Lyserg leaned forward, aiming for the mouth before pausing and switching directions before pausing again to turn around. "Um, let's go, alright? We'll be late."

"Aw, we're not late," Hao groaned, but didn't complain as he got up to follow Lyserg. They left Yoh standing in the kitchen, being stared at by his mother and father. Well, mostly mother.

"Yoh…" Keiko said slowly, but before she could say anything else, Yoh glanced at the clock. "I'm going to be late if I don't go soon! I'll eat breakfast at school." He grabbed his bookbag near the door and dashed out of the door.

_Thanks a lot onii-chan. Trapping me in the same room as my romantic novel loving mother. Sorry, _our_ mother. _Yoh ran up to catch up with Lyserg and Hao.

"Hey, Horo what's wrong?"

Horo looked up. Ren had come up to his desk, which sat by itself in the back. Weird…the Tao rarely came to talk to him in the back. He looked around and spotted the other members of their group watching Ren. Okay, so they had sent him…?

"Nothing. Why?"

"Because your big mouth isn't open this morning." Ren shrugged and let out an annoyed sigh. "We can't help but worry when you act stoned."

Horo glared at him. "Oh but then it should be attractive to you, shouldn't it? You liked Yoh, didn't you?" Horo sat back triumphantly.

"Yeah, but I don't anymore dipstick. In case you didn't notice. First, he's hopelessly in love with Lyserg. Second, if I did like you, and I'm not saying I do…"

Horo smirked.

"I'd like you for who you are, not who you're pretending to be." Ren looked at him. "Don't give me that look."

"Well, thank you for caring. But no, nothing's wrong. I'm just tired." And that was the truth; he had been tired since he had stayed up worrying. Sometimes he wondered why his mother didn't worry enough.

"Are you sure?" Ren looked at him, searching him with his dark violet eyes. "Then why are you sulking back here alone for?"

"I'm not alone, am I? You're here, aren't you?"

Ren stared at him. "Yeah."

Horo shrugged. "You're all I need to not be alone."

Ren rolled his eyes. "You might be a woman killer with those cheesy lines, but they don't affect me." 

"Really? Oh, that's right. Your idea of romantic is to bring the other person into a dark alley and have the two of you beat the shit out of each other. Then go out for ice cream or something."

Ren shrugged. "I like ice cream, so…"

Before anything else could be said, the morning bell rang and the teacher, Mr. Orona shuffled in. He was Choco's history teacher, and one of the teachers the boy could actually stand. Although many talked about Orona being a hobo off the streets with his shabby clothes and rough street accent, he was actually a pretty good teacher. He glanced around, taking role for his homeroom. 

"Who's not here?" Orona called out wheezily. No one said anything. 

"Alright…homeroom dismissed…" He barely moved before nearly the whole room cleared. Yoh pulled his book bag over his shoulder and turned, spotting movement out of the corner of his eye. Anna was shoving books into her black canvas bag, wearing her red scarf as a headband today. Decked in a black hoodie over her white school blouse (no one ever saw the white, but it was there) and her school skirt (which had been dyed black, but had been dark in the beginning so no one really noticed), she looked like quite a formable opponent. 

Without even thinking about it, Yoh had walked up to her, standing next to her desk. Some boys who hadn't ran out of the classroom at first gave him a sidelong glance before hightailing it out of there. Anna looked up at the person who was casting a shadow over her, giving him a condescending look. "What do you want?"

"I heard from someone that you like me." There. He'd said it out. Not like he was used to beating around the bush anyway. 

"Who?" Anna glanced around the now deserted room, save Hao, who had apparently fallen asleep in the short homeroom time, and Lyserg, who was currently trying to poke him awake. They were at the front of the room, farther away from the back row Anna sat at. "That Lyserg kid?"

"Maybe."

Anna shut her eyes, as if she had a migraine. "That kid believes everything he hears. He's not reliable at all."

"Hey, don't say that about him. He's a good kid." Yoh frowned and Anna looked at him amusedly. 

"Then let me ask you something," she said, not waiting for a response. "I heard from someone…well, a lot of people have been talking about this, that you and Lyserg broke up already but you're still hung on him. Am I right?"

Yoh blinked.

"I'm right, aren't I?" Anna sighed and pulled the canvas strap over her head. "You all are the same. No one here's interesting anymore." She didn't look at him as she walked past him to the door.

"You're self conscious, aren't you?"

Anna paused in midstep. "What do you mean?"

Yoh shrugged. "Well…you're wearing all black, but you certainly don't seem the person to be Goth and everything…and your skirt's almost down to your knees and every girl looks like a skank here…except you. So I'm guessing that you're probably self-conscious of your weight, right? Cause you wear all black." Yoh shrugged again. "You don't eat much at lunch and you play a lot of sports, but you don't play on teams with uniforms because they're all short sleeves and short shorts."

Anna stared at him. 

"I'm not saying that's bad," Yoh said quickly, backtracking. "But I don't think I'm the only one who thinks you're skinny."

Anna looked at him longer. Yoh flinched as she raised her hand, but she merely covered her mouth with it, which was arching into a smile. "Well, it looks likes you're all _not_ the same…tell me this, Shirlock, why don't I have any friends?"

Yoh leaned to one side, as if figuring her out. "Hmm…I'm guessing…and this is only a guess…but I'm thinking that you don't like friends because friends lead to peer pressure, and peer pressure leads to loss of ego, which you really don't need right now since you're already self-conscience." 

Anna's smile widened. "Someone's truthful." 

Yoh shrugged again. "Why not tell it like it is?"

Anna's hand lowered, but the smile was still there. "I like you, Asakura. I always have, but not in _that_ way. You're kinda like me, you know, watching everyone, but you still trust people." Anna turned. "I can't afford that anymore. See you later."

"Alright then." He watched as Anna left the classroom, twirling her beads around. Yoh felt someone watching him and turned sharply to see Lyserg staring at him across the room. The boy started at being found out and turned back to Hao, poking him harder than usual to get up, and since Hao was already in the process of sitting up, Lyserg poked him hard on the forehead.

"Ouch! Lyserg, I'm awake!" 

"I-I'm sorry…" Lyserg's face was red and he was staring at the floor. As Hao started shuffling his things ready, the greenette gingerly looked up and noticed Yoh was gone.

"Kimi! Earth to Kimi!"

Kimi jumped and looked around. "What?"

"Kimi…are you okay? You've been staring into space for a long time." Keiko looked at her partner worriedly. "Is something wrong you want to talk about?"

"Oh, no, nothing, everything's fine." Kimi started shuffling papers around in front of her. Keiko watched her for a moment more before shrugging and turning back to her computer screen.

"If your parents-in-law asked you to go back home where you could actually be in a good financial position to raise your kids, would you say yes?" Kimi burst out. She dropped the papers back on the desk, where they flew in every which direction. Keiko looked up again. 

"What?"

"Hiro's parents wrote to us yesterday asking if we could go back to Japan."

"Go back…as in for a visit?" Keiko asked. She took her hands off the keyboard and swung to face Kimi.

"That's what the kids thought, but no. They want all of us to go back to Japan so we can be a family there."

"What's wrong with having family overseas?"

"Nothing, but you know the Usui part of the family being all traditional. They think the family together is a family forever. You know…they weren't that thrilled that Hiro married me in the first place and he made it worse by leaving."

"Hmm."

"Anyway, they're pretty rich you know…but we've just been cut off. But they're willing to help us if we go." Kimi fiddled with a loose thread on her sweater. "You know we've been in debt for a long time and now we're finally on our feet…"

"You're really thinking about this, aren't you?"

"How did you know?"

"Because every time you worry out loud, you always say 'you know'!" Keiko laughed. "But what do you want to do?"

"I don't know…the kids don't want to go, they say they have friends here."

"You do too. And I understand how they feel. I mean, if I decided to up and go, I don't think Yoh or Hao would be very happy about it."

"Yeah, especially since they're in a deep, complicated relationship." The two smiled. Alright, the love triangle between the twins and Lyserg was one of the juicier pieces of gossips between the parents. Then Kimi's face fell. "But seriously. I don't know what to do."

"Hmm…if I were you, I'd go to Japan first and talk it over with the parents before I make my decision."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…" Keiko tapped her chin. "Why don't you go pay them a visit first and talk to them? Ask them why they really want you to go. I mean, they haven't really kept in touch with you for such a long time, why the change of heart? Also, you could mention how Horo and Pirka feel. They shouldn't come between them and what they've been used to. They both grew up in America, and it's how they know things. I don't think you should move personally…for them, and then I'd be a one-person show!"

Kimi nodded, then blinked. "Oh yeah! Yeah! I should visit them first. I mean, I do like it here, and I wouldn't move if it was based on me, but the kids…" Kimi shook her head. "I just want what's best for them."

"We all do as parents, Kimi."

"Yeah…but if I move, then they can do much better…they're both such bright kids." Kimi sighed. "If only I wasn't in this situation."

"Well, you have a lot of people to talk to." Keiko reached over and patted her shoulder. "We're all here for you, Kimi."

Kimi smiled. "Thank you."

Horo stared out the window. Why did math have to be his last class? No wonder why he was doing so bad in it. He rarely focused when the bell was going to ring in fifteen minutes, signaling his release from this place. 

"Usui! Pay attention!"

"Sorry," Horo mumbled, glancing over at the math teacher, Mr. Goldva. Goldva looked gruff, but he was a pretty fair grader. Horo shuffled the papers on his desk, pushing a 94 back into his binder.

Only one point more and he'd have gotten an A…he really sucked at math. Horo sighed and turned to the window again.

If they moved, would they ever come back to America? He liked it here…alright, so the economy was a little down and everything, but at this moment, real life couldn't touch him. Alright it already did, but that wasn't the point. He could live with working the stoves at Burger Hut. He could live with living in a small apartment. 

But would he really have to leave Ren? Yeah, of course he'd miss Yoh and the others a lot, that was a no brainer, but the one he'd miss most would be Ren. 

Not that the boy would really care. 

God, he wished Manta would stop kicking his seat. The midget had grown a few inches over the summer, and now could actually manage to kick the back of whoever was sitting in front of him. Too bad Manta's feet still was above the ground by seven inches. 

Maybe the shot in height was why his brain shrunk. He was supposed to take AP Calculus in junior year, but now the shortie was in Pre-Calc with him and Ren. 

Ren shot a glance at Horo from next to him. God, the Usui was spacing much. Well, he could pretty much read his body language anyway. Resting the tip of his pencil on the notebook, Ren looked Horo up and down. Slouchy position…normal. Airheaded…normal. Staring out the window when he was _supposed_ to be focusing on class…not that normal. Normally, Horo would be trying to flirt with Ren while paying attention (which was annoying), but today, Horo seemed airier than usual. 

Ren took it as his special duty to stab Horo in the arm with his mechanical pencil. Lead poisoning, whatever.

"What?" Horo hissed, turning away from the window.

"What's wrong with you?" Ren muttered. "You're usually not this spacey."

"I'm worrying, alright?"

"About what?"

"Nothing you need to care about." Horo turned away again. 

"Tell me."

"No."

"Hey, if you two want to take your married couple fight into the hall, that's fine with me," Manta whispered.

The shortie had it coming. Ren didn't care that he'd have to serve detention after class; the black eye on Manta made it all worth it.

Horo sighed. 

Tobecontinued…

Note: Anna is formally introduced in my fanfic! I'm not sure why I wanted to include her this time…hmm…Yoh has so much intuition doesn't he? The next chapter is shorter, but actually causes a few plot twists. So wait up for it!


	5. Do You Know

I've Got All this Ringing in My Ears and None on my Fingers

**Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics. If any of these songs were mine, I wouldn't be writing fanfics.**

Background music: Don't You Know – Enrique Iglesias

Note: there is actually some lemon in this one. I tried to water it down but it was needed for the story to actually pack some punch. I also love mood killers, so that would explain a few. But I doubt many are actually complaining.

Chapter 5 – Don't You Know?

Lyserg moaned, feeling Hao slide a hand up his shirt. Currently, the two were at the Asakura's home alone: Keiko was still at work, Mikihisa was on the lookout for jobs, and Yoh was somewhere…the details were a bit foggy. They utilized this time for what they did best: make out.

Hao smirked as he leaned up, brushing Lyserg's lips with his own, teasing them with the closeness. Lyserg sighed in impatience and leaned forward to start it off.

"Whoa, remember, I'm tops."

"Whatever," Lyserg said, rolling his eyes. He eeped as Hao threw him back first onto his bed and crawled on top of him. Without wasting a moment, Hao captured the greenette's mouth and thrust his tongue into the other boy's mouth. He felt Lyserg reach up and wrap his arms around the Asakura's neck. Smiling in the kiss, Hao ran his fingers through Lyserg's hair, tilting his head upward so he could explore the other's mouth better.

The mood was severely killed when they backed into the wall next to Hao's bed.

"Aw, damn wall," Hao muttered. He grabbed Lyserg and pushed him onto Yoh's bed. At least there wouldn't be any annoying walls in the way. Lyserg looked a little surprised to be on Yoh's bed and tensed slightly, but relaxed as they kept going.

Although he jumped again as he felt Hao reach for the buttons on his shirt. Breaking out the kiss, Lyserg widened his eyes. "What are you doing?" he asked breathlessly (he'd been holding his breath for about two minutes, can you blame him?).

Hao looked surprised Lyserg would ask such a stupid question. "Taking it further," he said simply, before reaching for the next button.

"No, wait, Hao…"

"What? You're not ready?" Even as Hao said this, the buttons remained coming undone.

"Stop!" Lyserg pushed Hao's hand away, rougher than the older boy had expected. Hao's eyebrows raised amusedly. "Does this have anything to do with what happened with Yoh?"

"No," Lyserg protested, although his face was red again. He propped himself up, clutching at the sheets under him. That's right, this was Yoh's bed…

"_God Lyserg, you make me so horny," Yoh murmured as he brought Lyserg closer for another kiss. The two were in the Asakura's room after school while Hao was serving a detention at school. _

"_I try to," Lyserg chuckled, placing his hands on Yoh's shoulders. "I can see you want to rape me now."_

"_How did you know?" Yoh laughed, as he brought his hands up to cup Lyserg's face. The two kissed again, Yoh's tongue dominating (enough to set the mood, but not enough that Lyserg couldn't change the pace himself). The next few minutes were a blur, filled with sighs, moans, touches…the next thing Lyserg knew, he was on his back on Yoh's bed as the other boy straddled him, his forehead pressed against his. Yoh's breath was jagged and Lyserg knew the dirty thoughts the Asakura was thinking. Smiling, Lyserg slipped his hands underneath him, pressing in the middle of his back, achieving the coy look he was going for._

"_God, Lyserg," Yoh whispered. Another fevered minute until Lyserg realized Yoh was looking straight at him, his hands slowly undoing the buttons on his shirt._

_Lyserg thought he had given the younger twin permission with his eyes, but apparently they said something else, because a second later, the buttons were redone and Yoh collapsed next to him, sighing._

"_Why'd you stop for?" Lyserg asked, turning to Yoh. Yoh turned to him, giving him a look that made the smaller boy cuddle closer. Yoh wrapped an arm around his waist before starting. "I don't know…it's just that…you just didn't look ready."_

"_But I am," Lyserg protested, but Yoh shook his head. "Your eyes. You weren't ready for it yet." Yoh closed his. "But that's okay. I'm willing to wait for you."_

_Lyserg tried to convince him otherwise, but as they lay there quietly, Yoh starting to fall asleep, Lyserg knew in his heart Yoh was right. He really wasn't ready for 'it' yet. But how had Yoh known that before he did? _

_Cuddling closer, Lyserg smiled. Yoh really knew him better than he knew himself._

Hao leaned back and let Lyserg sit up. At that second, a cell phone went off on the floor:

Do you know what it feels like/loving someone who's in a rush to throw you away…do you know what it feels like/to be the last one to know the lock on the door has changed?

"Yoh's," Hao said, reaching over to check the caller ID. "Ren. Probably has some shit about the roadtrip." Hao pressed silent and the phone flashed quietly.

Hao turned to Lyserg, who was staring at the phone. "He changed the ringtone a few days after you broke up with him," Hao said helpfully, noticing the boy's face had grown a few shades darker.

A silence. "Then I guess this means we're done?"

More silence. "I mean, break up kind of done?"

More silence. A sigh. "Well, it was fun while it lasted." Hao draped his feet off the bed and lay down, staring up at the ceiling. "These months were worth it, don'cha think?"

Lyserg turned to Hao. "I…" He had fully intended to protest, but sighed and gave up. "Please don't tell Yoh."

"Why not?"

"Because." Lyserg looked sad. "He seemed happy to see us going out. And I think he likes Anna."

"That chick?" Hao laughed. "Please. He's not into girls like her, trust me."

"Still. Don't say anything to anyone, please."

"So we're going to pretend we're still going out minus the making out?"

"Um…yeah."

"You and Yoh are so _thick_," Hao whined. "You guys are so scared of hurting each other. It gets so _boring_."

Lyserg didn't say anything.

"I mean, I don't think he'd say no if you wanted to go out with him again."

"I think I hurt him too much for that," Lyserg whispered.

"Please." Hao scoffed. "I think we all know he still likes you. Why'd you break up with him anyway?"

Lyserg remained silent.

"Yoh didn't understand it. Neither did any of us. But then I said to myself, 'Well, he's free and it doesn't look like they're getting back together soon', so I asked you out. I was kinda surprised you said yes so quickly. But I guess it was because it was right in front of Yoh."

"_Hey, Lyserg…wanna go out with me?"_

_Yoh looked up. The three were walking home from school, Hao and Lyserg ahead of him while he followed them. Lyserg blinked. "What?"_

"_Well, you're free, aren't you? I don't know why you're surprised I'd ask you. I mean, I have been coming on to you since I've come here…"_

"_Yeah, I know _that_," Lyserg said quickly. "Um…" For a second, he glanced back at Yoh, who gave him a blank look. "Um…yeah, okay, I'll go out with you._"

The front door slammed. "Yoh's home!" Hao announced. "Soo…"

"Don't tell him," Lyserg begged again.

"He deserves to know."

"I"ll tell him."

"Now?"

"Not now…when it's time."

"When is that?"

Lyserg shrugged and shook his head. "I don't know. Just don't say a word."

Yoh knocked on the bedroom door quietly before pushing it open. At that very second, Hao suddenly leapt up and grabbed Lyserg, initiating a liplock between them. Lyserg couldn't protest with Yoh in the room, Hao figured, smirking to himself.

"Oh, um…" Yoh cleared his throat and threw his bag on the ground. "Um, well, I'll leave you two alone…"

"Ah! Wait, Yoh…" Yoh turned, surprised at hearing Lyserg's voice. Hao backed off for a second as Lyserg suddenly looked away from Yoh. Those brown eyes would make him spill everything. "Um…how was your day?"

Yoh blinked. Lyserg never asked him this before. "Uh, well, it was okay."

"Yeah…?" Lyserg looked up timidly, aware of his hormones racing.

"I saw you talking to Anna today," Hao piped up. Yoh turned to him. This was strange…Lyserg and Hao never ended a make-out session just to talk to him before. How weird could this day get?

"Yeah, so?"

"What'cha guys talk about?"

"Stuff." Yoh shrugged. "She's not as bad as everyone thinks she is."

Hao glanced at Lyserg, who was absentmindedly pulling at a thread. "That's great. Well, we won't keep you from whatever you were doing." Flapping his hand, Hao shooed Yoh away, who walked out of the room confusedly.

Ren gripped the steering wheel tighter as he drove down the street. God, that detention had been boring. Stupid little shrimp just had to shriek loudly when his fist came in contact with his face. God. Well, probably people would have noticed a shrimp flying through the air, so…

But really. Did Manta have to say 'married couple fight'? No way! Did people actually think he and Horo fought like a married couple?

That didn't matter. He didn't like Horo at all.

Nope.

Not at all.

Not even a little.

Nope.

I don't!

Ren gripped the steering wheel tighter until his knuckles turned white. He had another urge to throttle someone. Hey, look, the Burger Hut Horo worked at!

He was driving in to beat him up, Ren kept telling himself as he turned into the parking lot. Definitely not because he wanted to see the Usui. Nope.

Not at all.

Alright, we're not going to get into this again.

Ren opened the glass door and was hit with the nauseating aroma of fast food. Yuck. Horo wasn't at the front anymore…instead, a freckly glasses teenager was standing where Horo had been. "Hello, welcome to Burger Hut," he droned. "What can I…"

"Yeah, hi," Ren said shortly. "Can I speak to Horo?"

"Excuse me?"

"Horokeu Usui?"

"Um…I'll go get the boss…"

Throttle time.

"Wait, Dennis, he's for me." Horo appeared out of nowhere, wiping his hands on a towel. "Don't worry about it." Stepping out past the counter, Horo walked over to Ren. "What's up?"

"I…" What _was_ he there for? He felt pretty stupid at the moment and wanted to shrink into his Mankin High hoodie with the MH wrapped inside a flame.

"Um…"

God he so wanted to throttle that Dennis kid, staring at them like he had nothing else to do.

"So…just here to say hi, right?" Horo asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"Um, yeah."

"You're so funny," Horo laughed. "Coming here for no good reason. But you're cute like that." He tapped Ren on the nose briefly before disappearing to the back again.

"Come again," Dennis said, looking interested.

Flashing the slow teen the finger, Ren pushed the door open and rubbed his nose. Horo was so dense to say something like that in front of other people. _But you're cute like that_.

Gr. Ren kicked a paper bag that flew in front of him before getting into his car. As he glanced into his rear view mirror, he realized his face was completely red. How did that happen? He'd better go home and take some meds.

Dennis turned slowly to the grill, where Horo was watching the sizzling…things. They were supposed to be meat patties, but no cow was that red…

"That girl just flicked me off," he said with surprise in his voice.

"Boy," Horo said, without looking up. "And he does that sometimes."

"You know him?"

"School friend."

"Really?" Dennis said.

"Yeah." Horo nodded, still staring at the meat. He couldn't help but smile. Ren was so cute when he was being stubborn.

"But I really should report this to the boss," Dennis said earnestly. "This is bad business."

"Yeah?" Horo looked around, but only he and Dennis were in the front. Business was slow during the four o' clock hour. He raised his metal spatula. "Say anything and…" Horo waved the utensil in the air like a flyswatter and slapped it onto a meat patty, with a satisfying SQUELCH.

That was not meat.

Dennis nodded quickly. "Um, okay, yeah Harry."

Why could anyone here learn his name?!

Horo sighed as he trudged into the apartment. Smelled like food _again_. At this rate, he'd have to buy miles of soap. Pirka complained that the good smelling soap had been used up. Well, he was a guy. Guys don't care what kind of soap they use.

Although Ren had given him a weird look after he'd used that lavender soap.

Walking past his mother's room, Horo heard her voice talking softly. Pausing, Horo tried to listen in to what his mother was talking about, but she was speaking Japanese and he could only pick out bits and pieces.

"…can't you give us…exactly…don't I come to Japan…talk about it…"

Pause.

"So I'll see you…I can come as soon as…don't worry about it…so I'll see you then…only to talk…goodbye." There was a click and Horo heard his mother sigh.

"Hey, onii-chan, what're you doing?" Pirka asked loudly (her normal voice was loud so it didn't matter), appearing behind him. Jumping, Horo turned and shushed her but knew they had been overheard.

"Hey, welcome home you two!" Kimi greeted, opening her bedroom door. "How was school?"

"Great!" Pirka chirped before scampering off to get something to eat. Horo shrugged but remained where he was. "Who were you talking to?"

Kimi looked up. "Oh, people."

"Like dad's parents?"

Kimi didn't say anything for a moment. "Okay, yes, I was. But I wasn't giving them an answer! I was trying to explain things to them."

"Really?"

"Yep." Kimi seemed oblivious to the look her son was giving her. "It's all good, Horo, don't worry about it. How was Ren today?"

His mother really knew how to make him stop talking.

Tobecontinued…

Note: Flashbacks galore! Sadly, none actually reveal what happened that Valentine's Day…laughs evilly…you're all going to have to wait, and hopefully it's actually worth the wait. I apologize to all the HoroxRen fans who are protesting on your end about my lack of their parts. I love them too, but…they're kind of…second in my book. I actually should write something about them as another oneshot. I should be writing more oneshots…I love them. Thank you all for your feedback! It is constructive in a way that encourages me to continue updating!


	6. The Way I Am

Disclaimer: If I owned Shaman King I wouldn't need to write fanfics

**Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics. If any of these songs were mine, I wouldn't be writing fanfics.**

Background music: The Way I Am - by: (I'm not really sure, actually. It was on a commercial).

Chapter 6 – The Way I Am

"SATs and finals are just around the corner," Orona coughed one morning. A sigh that seemed to come from the very walls of the homeroom filled the room. "It's May everyone…you will all have to take your SATs in two weeks and finals are a few days after that."

"Shit," Choco mumbled behind Yoh.

"There will be SAT practice," Orona continued, "in the college admissions office, every day second part of lunch and after school…for forty minutes…" Coughing fit for a few seconds. "But if you all study and keeps some time to yourself, you'll do fine. It's not like it's going to ruin your life or anything."

"Yeah, like not going to college is going to potentially ruin your life," Ren muttered to himself sarcastically.

"I'm not planning on going to college," Hao said, sitting in front of him, lounging around as if he were at home. Facing sideways, Hao shrugged. "I just don't see the need."

"But Hao," Lyserg whispered, sitting next to him, "you might not get a good job if you don't get a college degree."

"Yeah, I'll manage with my sizzling hot looks," Hao retaliated. "It's why you fell for me in the first place, isn't it?"

Ren wondered if it was just him or did Hao stress the last part of his sentence? No matter…Lyserg turned away and Orona started talking again.

"There will be stress management sessions with Marco Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday to cope…"

"Yeah, like meeting that creeper's going to make me feel a lot better," Hao scoffed. Lyserg shot him a 'shut up!' look. Marco, this year, had achieved true creepy status. Apparently over the summer, he and Jeanne got engaged but somehow, the wedding seemed a long way off. Something about some vow Jeanne had made got in the way, but no one wanted to ask. This seemed to make Marco a bit depressed and he'd just slouch along the hallways. Sometimes when you were just talking to your friends, he'd just appear behind you and ask if everything was okay. Or he'd say something you thought was only among the student population. Which was how every teacher found out about Lyserg and Hao…save the fact they were practically making out in the back of every class anyway.

"Homeroom is dismissed…"

Choco scooped his books off his desk and was going to leave for bio when he felt someone grab his sleeve. Turning, he blinked as he saw Lyserg standing behind him. "Can I talk to you?"

"Okay…" Choco lingered behind as he saw Hao dart out of the classroom, followed by Yoh, Ren, and Horo. Yeah, they were friends, but Lyserg rarely told him much; the greenette's confidants consisted of Hao, Yoh (although not lately), and sometimes Ren. Lyserg pulled his carrier bag strap over his head. "Come on."

"What's up?" Choco asked, following Lyserg out of the classroom. Lyserg shrugged lightly. "Well…me and Hao broke up."

Choco nearly tripped. The famous makeout couple going separate ways? "Does Yoh know?" Choco blurted out before considering maybe this was a sore subject. It was, apparently, because Lyserg gave him a hurt look.

"No. No one else knows but you and Hao."

"Why?"

Lyserg shrugged again, making his way up the stairs to his English classroom. "I don't know. I guess me and Hao really didn't have a relationship…"

"It was mostly making out."

"Basically."

"So why would you tell me of all people?"

Lyserg turned to him. "Because I was hoping you wouldn't bring up Yoh. Hao brings him up all the time when I mention it. I know Ren would and Horo's Yoh's best friend."

Choco felt a tad ashamed for saying anything, but continued. "Why wouldn't you want him to know?"

Lyserg didn't say anything for a minute. "I don't know. It's just…"

"Do you still like him?"

"I never said that," Lyserg said quickly.

"Cause he still likes you."

"Everyone says that."

"Cause it's true," Choco said, struggling to keep up. Lyserg was walking really fast now. "I mean, I think everyone knows he still likes you, even though you two broke up, like…two months ago." Choco stopped as he saw Lyserg's expression, one of regret and 'don't-you-have-to-be-getting-to-bio?'

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be nosy…" Choco shrugged. "I guess it's sad to see you two like this. You two used to be happy. And I guess I should be heading to bio," Choco added as the bell rang, signaling the beginning of first period. "So this is a secret?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. I'll see you in history." Choco dashed down the deserted hallway, his footsteps echoing in its emptiness. Lyserg watched him for a minute before opening the door to his English classroom. Ms. Chloe, the friendly pink-haired (she claimed it was natural) young lady who taught English, turned to the door. "Better late then never, Mr. Diethyl. Unfortunately, the seat next to your 'partner' has been taken." Lyserg turned to Hao, who was sitting next to Manta. Hao gave him a 'you're late' look while the rest of the class chuckled at how Chloe had emphasized 'partner'.

"Please take a seat in the back." Lyserg nodded, making his way to the only empty seat in the back of the room. As he reached it, however, he realized the person sitting next to him.

"Hey Lyserg," Yoh murmured, turning to look at the seat next to him instead of the person standing next to it.

"Hi, Yoh…" Lyserg pulled out the seat and slid into it quietly, not wanting to draw attention to this situation. After all, if what Choco said was true, apparently the whole class knew how awkward this was going to be.

And it was a double period.

Greeeeat.

"It is my greatest joy to announce to you that there will be no English final!" Chloe sang off the bat. There was a splattering of applause and cheering. "However…there is something you will be doing instead of a final. It will be worth the same points…a hundred and forty…but! You will be doing this in pairs."

The class sobered down.

"This semester, we covered numerous plays, including Shakespearean, Greek, and other contemporary types. So as your final, you will be writing a play. It needs to be at least three acts long with at least four scenes in each acts."

"Twelve scenes?" someone whispered.

"At least," Chloe repeated. "I won't give you the topic, but it cannot be graphic or X-rated."

Almost everyone turned to look at Hao.

"And lastly…you will be working with the person next to you."

The English classroom had ten tables of two, so the pairings were instantly created. There was no assigned seating, so students ended up working with their friends anyway. But of course…

"Manta!" Hao shouted exasperatingly. "You know the drill! I always sit next to Lyserg but you had to plop your stupid fat ass down didn't you?"

"So we're working together, huh?" Yoh said, smiling nervously. Lyserg nodded, barely making eye contact.

Yoh's smile grew a little. Lyserg may be giving him the silent treatment, but he was still cute when he was blushing like that.

Hao kicked Manta's chair, nearly knocking the boy off his seat. Glancing back, he noted Yoh's apparent nervousness and Lyserg's fidgeting. Well, maybe something good would happen with this. Kicking Manta's chair harder, Hao grumbled. "You know, if you don't get me an A, I think I _will_ have to do something to you."

"A-a-alright!" Manta stammered, quivering as he got his notebook.

"You may get started!" Chloe announced, flouncing back to her desk. "You have two weeks to finish this. I want these plays on my desk before you start your first final."

The class let out a collective groan.

"So, uh…what should we make our play about?" Yoh asked.

Lyserg shrugged. A gay baby was born an awkward silence. Technically they were friends but only to an extent…

"Well, I guess we should brainstorm then," Yoh murmured, pulling out the handout on brainstorming with the cluster maps and diagrams all over. "What topics are we good at?"

"Breaking up," Lyserg muttered.

"Okay, topic one…" Lyserg snuck a glance at Yoh, who was writing it down. He hadn't expected Yoh to take him seriously. He remembered when Yoh used to hold him with those gentle hands…it was so long ago but he remembered the feeling like it was yesterday.

Okay, getting way off topic.

"Topic two…" Yoh tapped his pen on his chin. "Um…"

The whole room seemed to be buzzing with ideas, everyone already discussing plots with their partners…well, except Hao, who was letting Manta do all the work; Anna, who was sitting next to a terrified looking boy; and them. The classroom's noise got steadily louder.

Lyserg decided that probably no one would hear him if he started humming. It wasn't like he was doing anything else. At least it would give him something to do.

If you are chilly…here take my sweater…if your hands are aching…I'll make them better…

There seemed to be a harmony with his melody and Lyserg paused to see where it was coming from. Yoh was doodling circles around the margins of the notebook, humming softly to himself. Lyserg blinked.

"Did you hear me?"

Yoh jumped. "Sorry, I wasn't listening. What?"

"I said, did you hear me?"

"What did you say?"

"I didn't say anything…I was humming."

"What were you humming?" Yoh stared at him. "I really didn't hear anything you said, I'm sorry. I kinda zoned out for a minute."

What kind of coincidence was that?

"Never mind," Lyserg murmured.

Why did renting cars cost so much money? Even ugly little mini-vans. Ren could see himself doing something more productive during his free periods, but because _no one else_ wanted to do this…

"Hey, Ren!" Horo breezed into the computer room and fell into the seat next to the Tao, causing the spinny chair to shift. "What're you doing?"

"Roadtrip stuff," Ren muttered. "Why did you come up with this again?"

"Because next year is our senior year," Horo said seriously. "And after senior year, we might not have a vacation that the five of us are free because some of us might be going elsewhere…" _Some might be moving sooner than we'd like_. "So I figured that maybe if took a roadtrip before senior year, we might have some memories to share before we go to college." Horo shrugged. "And also…why not?"

Ren rolled his eyes, clicking on another link to another site with ridiculously high renting prices.

"Hey, let's all take a roadtrip before the beginning of senior year!"

_Everyone turned to Horo. It was November, the day before Thanksgiving Break. Choco was busy pasting feathers onto a pilgrim hat he had made with paper. The five of them were sitting in the student study center, a lounge where there were school supplies, tables and chairs, and sofas. Choco was getting glue all over himself. Ren (being the good little boy he was) was doing homework. Hao was…no one really wanted to know. Yoh and Lyserg were getting all snuggly on the sofas…something they liked doing lately. Nothing graphic or embarrassing…just some shifting and soft whispers and an occasional giggle from Lyserg. _

_Yup, look over at them and be sick with all the sugaryness. _

"_Horo…what the fuck?" Hao uncapped a Sharpie and took a large breath._

"_Well…it would be fun." Horo looked a bit offended that no one seemed to be liking his idea._

"_Who's going to be paying for it?" Ren asked, not looking up from his homework._

"_Well…we all could…I mean, my mom's letting me keep my paychecks now and you're practically sitting on a throne at home, Ren…not to mention Lyserg's mom is an author."_

_Choco frowned at not being included and shook his hand as he had somehow stuck a red feather to his fingers. _

"_I'm not sitting on a throne," Ren corrected, looking up at Horo, who was sitting on the table. "First of all, my father doesn't trust me with large amounts of money. Second, this is going to require a lot of planning."_

"_You think too much," Hao complained, grabbing a handful of Expo markers and uncapping them. _

"_I worry because you all _don't_," Ren snapped. "And don't try and get high. I heard Expo and Sharpies don't make you high anymore." _

"_Aw." Hao put the Expos down disappointedly, before grabbing a bottle of white out. _

"_I see someone's already preoccupied," Ren muttered._

"_I think it's a good idea," Yoh called from the sofa. "I mean, we can all drive and we have pretty good records…where were you planning to go?"_

"_Canada."_

"_Lower legal drinking age," Hao added, taking another whiff._

"_All you worry about is getting into trouble," Lyserg pouted. "But I think it's a good idea too." He giggled as Yoh whispered something in his ear and as he whispered something back, everyone looked away before getting swept up in the wind of their sugar._

"_Well, I guess it's decided, we're going!" Horo announced. "If some parental doesn't let us go, we'll come for you the day of! Yukon ho!"_

Yukon ho and now he was doing all the work. Ren sighed.

"Hey, didja hear Lyserg and Yoh are working on some final with each other!"

"I heard."

"Isn't it cute?" Horo sat back, nearly breaking the back of the chair. "The two of them are just going to be planning and then all the tension will be released and they'll make out and be happy and stop being complete downers like they are now."

"Well, at least one part of that disturbing image will be nice," Ren muttered, clicking on a picture of a red Yarus. "Do you think we can all fit into a Yarus?"

"No."

"Yeah, you're right. With your big ass, we'll barely fit in a minivan."

"Hey! I'm just looking out for us. I mean, what if we start making out in the car and accidentally kick the driver in the face?" Horo actually looked terrified as if it was a real threat.

"Did you just say 'if _we_ start making out'?"

"Yeah, so?"

"What makes you think I want to make out with you?"

Horo shrugged. "The same reason you love me."

"I don't!" Ren turned on him. "That was a mistake and –"

"If liking you is a mistake, then I don't want to be right," Horo said, quoting the cheesiest line.

Before Ren had the satisfaction of giving Horo what he had coming, someone smacked the bluenette against the head with a black binder. Horo yelped and turned to the person who had assaulted him, a threat dying in this throat as he noticed it was Anna.

"Before you say such stupid lines," she said coolly, "remember who else is listening. AKA the _world_."

Ren's respect for her leapt considerably.

"Hey, at least I don't like people who are already in love with someone else," Horo shot.

"What do you mean by that?" Anna asked, sitting across from them.

"Yoh! I heard you like Yoh. Yeah, Lyserg told me. He was practically frantic, actually. You didn't hear this from me, but that kid still likes Yoh. And Yoh still likes him. So butt out of it."

"I never said I liked Yoh," Anna replied, looking at her computer screen. "Who told Lyserg?"

"Um…" Horo shrugged. "I don't know. But what does it matter? Who cares? He hears gossip the moment it hits the air. He's one of the first people to hear these kinds of things. So it has to be right because he does his research."

Anna rolled her eyes. "Aaugh, you make me hate him. He doesn't know anything about me and he wants to accuse me of liking his ex? Please." Her fingers moved rapid fast over the keys. "For your information, I don't like anyone, and I don't intend to any time soon."'

Ren gave Horo a 'shut up while you're ahead look', which Horo missed completely.

"You _say_ that," Horo persisted. "But maybe you do. I mean, you have been talking to him lately and you _never_ talk to anyone."

"I'm talking to you right now, aren't I, so does that mean I like you?" Anna ignored Horo's look. "Don't talk to me unless you've got the story straight." She ignored everything else Horo tried to say.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Ren muttered, pulling Horo to his feet. "Let's go."

Horo gave Anna one last dirty look before leaving. Anna sighed.

Always being mistrusted…this world is full of liars.

Tobecontinued…

Note: For convenient sake…this is the redo SAT that they already took in December…Ren and Hao already got pretty high scores so they're not going to retake it. That is pretty much implied by me, but everyone else has to retake it. Yeah, Hao's not as dim as we all think.


	7. Alloutte

I've Got All this Ringing in My Ears and None on my Fingers

**Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics. If any of these songs were mine, I wouldn't be writing fanfics.**

Background music: Allouette – The Alvin Show : yes, I know, it's old, but when I was writing this, I was listening to it and it seemed to kind of go with this chapter so…

Chapter 7 –Allouette

"Um…guys, guess what?"

"What, mom?"

The Usuis were sitting around the kitchen table, eating pizza that Kimi had picked up on her way back home. Horo rolled his eyes as he watched Pirka dab the grease off her slice; his sister was too worried about how she looked. Kimi swirled the Coke in her can for a second before replying.

"I'm going out of town for a business meeting," she said slowly. "For a few days next week. Do you two think you can manage by yourselves?"

"Mom, we're old enough to take care of ourselves," Pirka said, rolling her eyes. "We don't need babysitters."

"Yeah. You're forgetting where we used to live."

"Ah. My bad." Kimi took a bite from her pizza. "I'll probably be leaving on Sunday and coming back around Thursday."

"I didn't know lawyers had business meetings," Pirka mused, finally satisfied with her grease dabbing before finally eating.

"Um…it's like a lawyer's expo where all the new firms meet and rate each other."

"So, in other words, like school?" Pirka asked.

"Yeah…I guess. Kind of."

"Where is it?"

"Um…in California."

"Really?" Horo knew he didn't conceal his doubt in his voice. "In California, huh?"

"Right." Kimi nodded. She didn't like the look her son was giving her. As if he knew things she didn't. Pirka didn't seem to notice it and the subject was dropped as they continued eating. But Horo wasn't going to let it go; after Pirka left to go to her room to do 'homework' (which Horo knew consisted of reading Cosmogirl and talking to Tamao on the phone), he cornered his mother, tidying up the kitchen after dinner.

"You're going to Japan, aren't you?"

"What gives you that idea?" Kimi asked innocently.

"Don't lie to me mom. I heard your conversation. I didn't understand a lot of it, but enough to know that you were planning on going to Japan." Horo didn't let his mother interrupt and pressed on. "Listen, you haven't even let Pirka and me say what we want to say on the problem! I can't believe you're already making plans without talking to us!"

"Horo! I never said for sure we were moving to Japan! I'm just going over there to talk things over with Hiro's parents."

"So you_ are_ going to Japan," Horo scoffed. Kimi looked abashed for a second. "Yeah…"

"Talk things over?" Horo asked, allowing his mother to explain herself.

"I want to talk about things with them…I'm not giving them an answer yet, but I want to know why they're suddenly doing this for. And I want to know everything that will happen should we say yes."

"Should we say yes?"

"Yes, I mean we still need to decide…"

"You need to decide. Pirka and I already said no."

"Horo, you need to see it from a parent's point of view!" Kimi argued, shoving the pizza box into the trashcan. "Here, I'm not financially able to support all of us easily! If we went to Japan, your grandparents could help us live a lot better!"

"So? We're managing!"

"I don't want to move either, but it's better for all of us in the long run!" Kimi turned to Horo. "It's not like we'd never come back here! We'd still visit!"

Horo was shaking, pent up frustration causing him to tremor. "If we were going to go, when would we leave?"

Kimi looked at him. "They've got everything ready for us and all we have to do is say yes."

"When, mom?"

"We need to get there early if we want to enroll you into a good school and get us all registered…"

"When?"

"Probably around your graduation. If we go, we'd go the moment after you graduated. Horo!" graduated in this sense means moving on to senior year, not graduating from high school altogether

SLAM! Dammit, if they left immediately after he graduated, he wouldn't be able to go on the roadtrip with the others. Groaning, Horo slid to the floor, leaning against the door of his room. His mother sounded really convinced to going. What if his grandparents ended up the last factor in her decision? No, he couldn't go now. Why couldn't his mom let him at least finish high school first?

Even if she did let you finish high school first, you'd still have to leave him.

Shit!

Lyserg let his carrier bag slide off his shoulder, letting it fall onto the ground with a sickening crunch. _There goes my bio homework_, he though aimlessly, walking over to his desk as he noticed a stack of paper sitting there innocently.

This wasn't his…he didn't remember writing a two hundred and ninety-nine page essay entitled 'Pieces of Childhood'.

This wouldn't happen to be his mother's latest manuscript, would it? _Christ…_

An orange sticky note sat on the top cheerfully, reading in his mother's neat handwriting: _Read this please, Lyserg – the editor said the ending was a bit iffy but it was publishable. I want you to do the last touch ups before we sent it for print._

His mother knew he was awful at editing writing. Flipping past the first few technical pages, Lyserg skimmed the first paragraph of chapter one.

_The day started like every other…the sun shone gloomily through blankets of thick gray clouds, causing its rays to be seriously dulled as it reached the window of an apartment. The gauzy curtains managed to block out most of the UV's annoyance, but one person in the room was already awake before the alarm clock even went off. In fact, Angel had already turned off the alarm so the beeping would be silenced once it reached eight o' clock. _

_They really needed to get real jobs._

_Taking a deep breath, Angel turned and crawled back on the bed, her light blonde (almost white, actually) hair falling over her sad face, framing a face of angelic beauty and innocence. Sliding across the bed in a white silk negligee, she scooted up to her partner, who was still sleeping._

"_Leif, wake up."_

_Shifting, the man slowly opened his eyes to adjust to the brightened room. Of course, it made it all better to see Angels' face first thing in the morning. He could get through anything with those bright eyes looking back at him, although they seemed so sad this morning. "What's wrong?" he asked, kissing Angel tenderly for she had leaned down close to him. His dark brown hair was tousled on the wrinkly pillow, but he didn't sit up. "You look sad."_

"_I am." Angel tucked a couple strands of her pale hair behind her ear. "Listen…Leif, we need to talk."_

Was his mother listening in on him when he called Yoh that day? Biting back annoyance, Lyserg kept reading.

"_Why?" Leif suddenly looked widely awake. Angel looked away from the deep pool of chocolate brown eyes she had fallen in love with_ (Whoa, was that what his mother thought? Lyserg bit his lip as he realized it was half true. Okay, a lot true). _"Leif…I think we should start seeing other people…_"

Ren ignored the beeping sound of his iPhone. Whoever was calling him at seven at night knew he didn't give a shit. Pulling out his AP Chemistry notes out, Ren promptly pretended the vibrating sound wasn't happening.

It didn't help that whoever was calling wouldn't stop. After the fifth ring, Ren grumbled and pulled his phone out of his bookbag. "What?" he barked into the phone, not caring if he sounded irratated. He was.

"Hey, Ren?"

Ren looked up, even though the person on the other end was not even close. "Horo? What's up?"

"Um…I was wondering…are you free right now?"

"No, I will not go on a date with you," Ren replied automatically.

"No, it's not going to _be_ a date…"

"Are we going to be alone?"

"Yeah."

"Any parental supervision?"

"No."

"Any annoying friends to bother me, namely Hao?"

"No."

"Then it's a date."

"Alright, fine, it's a date. Do you wanna go or not?"

Ren leaned back, causing the chair under him to crackle with annoyance. _Whatever chair. Go do whatever you want_. Ren angled his pen with the light from his lamp and watched the silver reflections dart across his room, falling on a drum set he'd barely touched since summer vacation.

Horo had taught him to play the drums, actually. Strange, for a gangster to know how to play so many instruments. Lyserg had already been established as vocals and Yoh wanted to play acoustic, leaving the bass and drums open. They weren't really aiming for a keyboarding kind of position, so Ren was out with his piano knowledge. Horo said he didn't care, but he'd teach Ren whatever _he_ wanted to learn.

Horo was patient with him when he vented out his impatience at how annoying drums could be.

"Alright…where are we going?"

Turns out the Usui wanted to go buy a six pack of Coke and walk home. Some _date_. Ren didn't know what he really wanted to do more: pelt the six cans of Coke in Horo's hands at Horo himself, or burn the whole 7/11 down.

"You want something?" Horo asked, turning as he pulled out his wallet to pay for the red pack of Coke.

"No," Ren muttered, glaring at the small aisles of chips, pop, and various other packaged food.

"Tell your friend to cheer up," the cashier remarked, a slightly balding chubby man in his forties. He and Horo turned to Ren, who gave them a glare, which caused the two of them to crack up. "You make such funny friends, Horo. Here, take some gum to your sister."

"Oh, I don't think I have enough money for gum…"

"Don't worry about it. She and her little friend practically buy the whole gum selection out each week anyway. Consider it on the house."

"Cool." Horo pocketed the watermelon mint gum and picked up the case of Coke. "See you later, Phil."

As the two walked out of the 7/11, Ren turned to him. "How do you know the guy?"

"Oh, I know everyone around here. I live here." Horo looked around at the darkened neighborhood. "We shop there a lot and my sister buys a lot of gum there."

"I heard."

"Alright."

There was an awkward silence as the two walked down the street. "So…what did you want me to come with you on this shopping spree with you for? Can't take care of yourself? Scared of the shadows?" Ren made a ghost motion, which came across Horo as a pawing motion of a cat.

"Are you coming on to me?"

"No." Ren scoffed. "Well, you're so desperate that you think everything I do is flirting with you, don't you?"

"It's my greatest fantasy," Horo said sarcastically.

"I knew it. But you didn't answer my question yet."

"Why?" Horo looked a little embarrassed. "Well…I kinda wanted some time alone with you."

Ren looked at him, then around at their surroundings. "Let me guess…you drugged that Coke and you're going to force me to drink it and then when I'm out cold, you're going to rape me."

"No, doofus. I don't _constantly_ think about sex."

"But mostly."

"Yeah, mostly. But not right now. Unless you're okay with it…" Horo smirked at him.

"No!"

Horo chuckled as he kept walking and looked up at the dark sky. "You can't see any stars today."

"Yeah. They can't be seen if there's too much light around." Ren passed under a streetlight for emphasis.

"I know that, but it's like they've gone away or something." Horo paused for a second and Ren wondered if he was imagining the look on Horo's face. Almost like sadness. "You know, Ren…what would you do if I went away?"

"What kind of stupid question is that?"

"Just answer it."

"Hmm…" Ren mock-pretended to think it over. "Well, I'd miss your sense of stupidity, that's for sure."

"I'm being serious."

Ren turned to him. Horo was dead serious. There wasn't any humor anywhere. Unused to the somberness in such an unlikely person, Ren was caught off guard. "I'd…I'd miss you, I guess."

"Aw, that's so sweet. If I wasn't holding this Coke, I'd kiss you."

Ren glared at Horo, and the carefree humor was back. That Usui's smile could really knock you one, couldn't it? "Maybe that's not a problem."

Horo blinked as Ren stopped and grabbed the Coke pack and shifted some of its weight onto himself, causing Horo to tip forward a bit. There was a slightest touch as Ren brushed his lips dangerously close to Horo's mouth. It was barely anything, but coming from Ren, it was a lot.

A _whole_ lot.

Without warning, Ren tipped the weight back onto Horo, causing him to lose his balance and nearly fall into the bushes next to him. "Be careful next time," Ren laughed as he kept walking.

"Ag! I hate you!" Horo mumbled a cuss as he heard the sound of pppphssh…damn, one of the cans leaked. "You're carrying the Coke next time."

"Great. I could use it as a weapon."

"You're not funny. Now the box is getting all wet and I'm going to get sticky."

"Go take a shower in your lavender bathwater."

"Shut up!"

"_So…I guess I'll see you later," Leif said awkwardly, shifting his weight as he gripped the box of his belongings. He'd never imagined himself standing outside of Angel's apartment with this stuff…well, he did (she was always too good for him, he figured), but he didn't know it would be so soon._

"_Oh, um, yeah…" Angel fidgeted with the hem of her baby tee. Boxes of Leif's possessions lay at her feet, some neatly packed, some thrown haphazardly. She noticed a picture frame on the top of one: in it was a picture of the two of them, smiling shyly as a stranger they had asked took a picture of them in front of the ocean. Looking away from the memory, Angel looked back at Leif, who hadn't moved._

"_So, uh…should I help you move your stuff to your car?" Angel asked, a subliminal request for him to leave._

"_Oh, no, I can handle it myself. Just put the boxes outside your door and you can go back inside. Don't worry about me." Leif flashed her a quick smile before heading for the stairs. Ratty little apartment she lived in didn't have elevators. But in fact, she was worried about him. She had expected him to question her conclusion, to stop the breakup from happening. She secretly wanted him to, to show how much he cared about her that he didn't want it to end so soon. But he had taken it with quiet dignity, only saying, "If that's how you feel, then it's okay with me."_

_Didn't he care about her? She thought he did…_

"_Angel?"_

_Angel looked up, startled. She had been twirling a piece of her hair, leaning against her doorframe. She must have looked out of place in the deserted hallway, surrounded by boxes. Her neighbor, Duke, had apparently heard the noise and poked his head out of his apartment across from hers. He had moved in a few months ago and he had the air of an unworried band lackey. She had welcomed him, of course, and it was rather pleasant in the beginning before he actually started coming on to her. Luckily, Leif appeared at the right moment, saving her from Duke's flirtation. _

_Duke wasn't a bad person. He was handsome in his own kind of way. Now, he flicked a strand of hair from in front of his sleepy eyes. "Angel, what's going on?"_

"_Nothing," Angel said airily. "Just getting rid of some stuff."_

_Duke's eyebrows raised at hearing this piece of information. "Getting rid of some stuff? This early in the morning?" A thought flashed through his mind. "Well, after you're done cleaning, are you busy this afternoon?"_

_Angel's finger froze, the strand of her hair uncurling and falling to her shoulder. "What are you trying to ask me?"_

"_Oh, I don't know…maybe if you'd like to get some coffee with me later?"_

_Angel opened her mouth, prepared and ready to say no, that she wanted to be alone with herself and her thoughts for the moment, but thanks for asking, and maybe she'd take him up on it later, much later. "Yeah, that sounds good."_

ToBeContinued…

Note: Next chapter is an even bigger bombshell than this one! Horo starts actually taking charge! Ren responds! We start getting off track with my made up novel! The biography of Lyserg and Yoh! I am nearly done with ROADTRIP…I still have the ending and a few chapters before that to finish. I have five more chapters before I actually run out of chapters to update with, but I probably will finish the series before the twelfth chapter is put up. Review, thanks!


	8. Saturday

Disclaimer: If I owned Shaman King I wouldn't need to write fanfics

**Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics. If any of these songs were mine, I wouldn't be writing fanfics.**

Background music: Saturday – Fall out Boy

Chapter 8 – Saturday

"Happy birthday, Lyserg!"

Lyserg stared at the twins at his doorstep. "What are you two here for?"

"It's your birthday!" Hao repeated, as if it hadn't sunk in the first time. Before Lyserg could say another word, Hao grabbed him and passionately kissed him. Yoh rolled his eyes, wondering if he'd have to stay out here and be gawked at by passing cars. Makeout sessions could last a long time. However, Lyserg ended it rather quickly with a karate chop into Hao's stomach. The older twin's abs didn't do much against Lyserg's wicked hand. As he leaned against the house, wheezing for breath, Lyserg turned to Yoh and Yoh noticed the boy had turned a few shades darker. "Um…do you want to come inside?"

"That would be awesome," Yoh said, grabbing Hao and pulling him into the house. They passed through the kitchen, where Jean Diethyl was sitting, reading a manuscript. She gave her son a look as he followed the twins. "Um…I just remembered, I have a meeting with my editor. I won't be gone long…see you later!" Acting rather Keiko-ish, she grabbed her keys and rushed out the door before Lyserg could say, "Your editor's at a conference today."

As the door slammed behind her, Hao looked up. "Are the parents gone?"

"Yeah."

"SEX!" Hao shouted unabashedly. He didn't care that the word seemed to vibrate the walls and that Lyserg and Yoh looked awkward at the mention of it. "Where should we do it?"

"How about we don't?" Yoh said. "Hao just wanted to come over to say Happy Birthday and he dragged me along," he explained to Lyserg. "I guess now he wants to crash here too."

"Hao, don't ricochet off the furniture!" Lyserg rushed forward to pull Hao off from climbing a cabinet. "What do I have to do to get to calm down?"

Hao glanced at him, a familiar glint in his eye that said, "I'm glad you asked!" Nodding, he became still in Lyserg's grip. "Alright, then, you gotta let Yoh give his present to you," he said in a triumphant voice not unlike that of a small child's.

"What present?" Lyserg asked, letting go of Hao in his confusion. Hao dashed across the room. "Yoh's not holding anything."

"Well, I gave you something before I came in," Hao said, matter-of-factly, as if everyone should have known. He climbed a recliner and sat on the back. "Now you gotta let _Yoh_ do something."

Let Yoh _do _something? Lyserg felt his face flush. "Hao, stop," Yoh started, attempting to pull out of an awkward situation.

"No, don't tell me to stop," Hao said, suddenly sounding serious. "Don't you know what everyone's saying about you two? You guys are so annoying and we always have to do _everything_ for you!" Grabbing the both of them by their collars, Hao crossed the room and shoved them into the hallway bathroom. "Have fun," he snickered as he shut the door and Lyserg heard a click of the lock. There was another metallic sound and as Lyserg tried to open the door, the lock was jammed.

"I'll let you two out in a few minutes," Hao's muffled voice called from behind the door.

"Dammit, Hao!" Yoh knocked on the door and heard his brother's laughs from farther away. That Hao could be so annoying sometimes.

And man, this bathroom was tiny.

"Sorry, Lyserg, Hao's a bit high today," Yoh sighed, turning to a small window above their heads. "Do you think we can crawl out of there?" Yoh crossed the bathroom (with only one step, it was pretty tiny) and tried to open the window.

"Yoh…" Lyserg glanced at the door but he was sure Hao wasn't listening in on them. "I've wanted to talk to you about something."

"Okay, go ahead." Yoh clamored onto the toilet to try and reach the latch of the window.

"Um…it's about me and Hao…"

"Okay." Yoh fidgeted with the rusty latch. Of course. Broken and he wondered if he should tell Lyserg about the bolt that came off in his hand.

"Can you…get off the toilet first?" Lyserg asked, sounding a little funny. Yoh turned. Well, maybe it was a _bit_ odd that Lyserg was trying to talk to him and he was standing on a toilet trying to open a window. "Sorry," he mumbled, turning to jump off the white cover. The bottoms of his Converse slid, however, on the smooth surface and he fell forward.

"Ow!"

The cliché fall…the one where the faller falls on the falled (say _that_ five times fast!) and there's a dramatic liplock that lasts for centuries…didn't happen. Yoh had his hands forward to try and cushion him from his fall, which knocked Lyserg against the door, hard. Before he could say sorry, Yoh seemed to turn midair after running into Lyserg and fell almost face first onto the sink. _Ouch._

"Are you okay?" Lyserg rushed up to Yoh, who was rubbing his mouth next to the sink. Yoh looked okay…save a few scratches, but he wasn't bleeding or anything and he was still conscious. Yoh nodded, dazed a bit and attempted to stand up.

"Don't stand," Lyserg ordered, pushing Yoh back down. Sliding down the wall, Yoh went into a sitting position, legs spread eagle as he continued to rub his lip. That liquid had to be blood, he knew it. Lyserg shuffled up to him, falling to his knees. "You're bleeding."

"I noticed," Yoh mumbled, trying to lick the blood off.

"Don't lick it, you'll get germs into the cut." Lyserg pulled some toilet paper and tried to wipe Yoh's lip. Yoh noticed how close they were, but decided not to say anything about it. After all, what can you say with almost wads of white paper in your mouth? And ouch…Lyserg was rubbing really hard.

"Ouch…it's really _rough_…" Yoh winced as Lyserg did a final swipe and leaned back. "Don't you have anything else more gentle?"

Lyserg dropped the toilet paper he was holding. Something more _gentle_? _"You're always so mean and rude," Yoh sighed, pulling Lyserg closer to him on the sofa. "You're like a bully."_

"_Really?" Lyserg asked, smiling a coy smile as he leaned forward to kiss Yoh, to seal off those words. He didn't want to hear it. It was true, but a real mood killer._

"_Yeah…" Lyserg pulled away as Yoh started talking. "But whenever I kiss you, you're so gentle."_

Lyserg leaned forward and kissed Yoh, there with the twin leaning against the bathroom wall, both on the floor. The afternoon sun shown upon them, casting their shadow across the opposite wall. Yoh's eyes widened; what was Lyserg doing? He had meant if Lyserg had a cotton ball or something…but this was okay too. Expecting just a quick peck, Yoh was baffled as Lyserg continued, waiting for a response.

_We always have to do _everything_ for you!_

Weeks (months, to be exact) of pent up restraint let loose and Yoh pulled Lyserg closer, running his fingers through the greenette's hair. Lyserg sighed in contentment as he wrapped his arms around Yoh's neck, breathing through his nose to keep the kiss going.

It took about a minute for the vanity mirror to develop a fogged surface.

"Yoh," Lyserg whispered breathlessly, breaking out the kiss. "Yoh…I…I wanted…"

"Shh," Yoh murmured, knowing if Lyserg thought it over that this would end as fast as it began. He didn't want Lyserg to do anything he regretted…but heck, he hadn't kissed the boy in over two months. Claiming the hesitant pink lips again, Yoh let his hands roam over Lyserg's back.

"Mmm…" Lyserg mumbled, a tone of submission. As he closed his eyes, however, something flashed through his mind.

Damn his mother's book.

Angel's heart raced as she took a seat next to Leif. She knew it was a bad idea to have had Duke talk her into taking a long bubble bath with him that morning. Now she was late and had to take the twelve o' clock bus. And of course, it being his ride and Leif being a creature of routine, her ex was now sitting next to her.

_Leif had told her the twelve o' clock bus was a mob at her stop. Why hadn't she remembered? _

"_So…" Leif mumbled, in order to keep something awkward and uncomfortable from happening. "How's it going?"_

"_Okay," Angel replied, feeling the need to throw herself from the bus. Calm down. Take a deep breath. She was only going to be on for a few minutes. _

"I heard that you're…" Leif gestured aimlessly with his hands. "You know…with Duke…"

"_Oh. Yeah. I guess."_

"_Oh. I wasn't sure if it was true or not…" Leif shrugged lightly, as if they were talking about the weather. "So you guys are serious?"_

_Angel wasn't sure what to say. She wasn't sure if what she and Duke were considered a relationship…there really wasn't anything there but she enjoyed his company and that was all. Leif took in this silence in stride. "Well, if it matters at all, I don't take back what I said before."_

"Lyserg?"

Lyserg backed away, feeling the familiar feeling of dread fill him as he inched farther away from Yoh. Yoh, confused, reached out for him and pulled back as Lyserg held one hand up to stop him.

"Sorry," Lyserg whispered. "It's just…"

"_Happy Valentine's Day, Yoh!" Lyserg bounded into the Asakura residence, not wasting a minute before collapsing in Yoh's arms. Before the Asakura could say anything back, the two of them were connected at the lip and stumbled into the living room. Tripping over their own feet, the two tumbled onto the sofa, Lyserg breaking away, giggling. Yoh smiled, flushed, as he managed to sit up. "You're enthusiastic today," he commented. _

"_Yeah!" Lyserg gave him a look that clearly said 'what's wrong with you?' "It's Valentine's Day."_

"_So?"_

"_Ag, Yoh, do I have to explain everything to you?" Lyserg cuddled closer. "It's _Valentine's _Day."_

"_You said that before," Yoh said, frowning, still not getting it. _

"_Yoh!" Lyserg cried exasperatedly. "Never mind. It's just a good thing, okay?"_

"_That's all you need to say."_

_Lyserg laughed and leaned forward for another kiss. This one was short and sweet and expressed their feelings quite loud and clear. Although all this Valentine's Day talk had actually toned through to Yoh's head, and as Lyserg leaned back with a smile, Yoh blurted the words that had been ringing loud through his mind for a long time._

"_I love you, Lyserg."_

_Lyserg's face changed for a brief second, although the flirty smile was still there. "What?" The kind of 'what' that meant 'excuse me, I'm not sure I quite _understood_ what you said' not 'um, I didn't hear what you said'. _

_Yoh nodded, confidence flowing through him like adrenaline. "I love you, Lyserg."_

_This time Lyserg's face changed more noticeably. A flutter of surprise's wings shadowed the boy's face for a moment before being replaced temporarily with shock mixed with a bit of fear. "You…you do?"_

"_Yes." Yoh looked into the wavering green eyes. "I do."_

"_I…" Lyserg was at a loss for words and Yoh thought he felt the room grow colder. "Well…" _

_At that moment, Yoh wondered if he should start wishing he could take back those three words._

"_Um…I love you too…" But these words were said in such a soft voice that Yoh almost didn't hear them. "Um…I have to go." Without saying another word, Lyserg got up off Yoh's lap and walked out of the house with a quiet disposition._

"Is it Hao?" Yoh asked and fell silent. Yes, it would be pretty awkward and unethical to make out with your brother's love interest. And they were still going out, not to mention. "Sorry," Yoh blurted quickly.

"No, it was me…" Lyserg backed up against the opposite wall. He felt his face grow red and hugged his knees closer to himself as a shield.

The droplets of water on the mirror condensed and trickled slowly down the glossy surface, like tears down a face.

Hao yanked a twizzler from his pocket and stuck one end in his mouth as he walked up the stairs. He could hear faint voices from the bathroom. He didn't regret for a second shoving his brother and ex into the bathroom a few seconds ago. He wondered faintly if the gum he shoved in the lock would actually come undone. Like all troubling thoughts, this one quickly disappeared from Hao's priority worries.

Pushing open a door, Hao knew he had come to Lyserg's room. The room was bright white, almost like new snow, one of Lyserg's favorite colors. The stuffed cat was sitting on the pillow, its head cocked as if watching the older Asakura. Pulling the other end of the twizzler, Hao snapped the red piece of candy and chewed what was left in his mouth. Lyserg was such a neat freak. Only Yoh would understand the obsession that grasped the housewives of the world about being unnaturally organized.

Stopping in the middle of the room, Hao looked around. It was a cute room, despite its abnormal cleanliness. It seemed perfect for Lyserg, who was best if his life was in order. Take now for example. Lyserg's feelings were in such a hurricane that he was acting strange.

Walking past the desk, Hao noticed a tall stack of papers. Glancing at it, he noticed it seemed to be by Lyserg's mother. One of her stories, eh? Flipping through it, he noticed some names seemed odd.

Leif and Angel? Reading through a few paragraphs, Hao was struck with how…how Yoh and Lyserg-ish it seemed.

A biography of the breakup? Hao chuckled. That Jean was such a trickster.

It was _amusing_, yes.

Glancing at the clock, Hao sighed. Ten minutes seemed adequate time for the two to get back together. He turned out of the room and started for the stairs.

Why was he doing this? He liked Lyserg, and yes, Lyserg broke up with him, but why was he so supportive of him and Yoh getting back together?

Even when they were going out.

Hao didn't understand the complexity of his mind sometimes. Subconsciously, he would always try and push the two into situations that would reveal their feelings for each other. Maybe it was a brotherly thing.

He was sad watching Yoh suffer like that. Even before he got to know Yoh like he did now, he sensed a kindred spirit in his younger brother. Yoh seemed happy and complete with Lyserg with him. These past few months, Hao had felt a kind of restlessness in Yoh. His brother was overly concerned with bothering others, so he never showed it to anyone else, but Hao knew it was there. It troubled him. He wasn't even sure how he could feel it. Twin sense, maybe.

He liked Lyserg, yes, but if would make Yoh happy to have Lyserg for himself, well…Hao had no problem giving up his current happiness. He cared for Yoh too much to be concerned about himself.

Call it an older sibling's concern. Call it consideration. Call it an act of maturity. Hell, call it an act of love. Twincest, here we come, Hao thought with a smile. But it was bigger than that. It was unexplainable.

Lyserg had been another factor too. He had known for a long time that Lyserg was hurting inside, ever since Valentine's Day. Something mysterious and dense was troubling the boy, and the weight of that worry was being carried quietly and secretly by the Diethyl alone. There had been a pact to never talk about it, so Hao didn't know the details, but he sensed that despite the breakup, Lyserg stilled cared much for his brother.

Lyserg loved Yoh, no doubt about it.

The two were standing on opposite sides, keeping their distance, afraid of hurting the other. Hao half hoped he could be the bridge to bring them together.

Maybe he would never love. Hao felt personally comfortable by himself. Maybe because he moved a lot when he was a kid, but he didn't find relationships very important. Not for himself at least.

Pulling out the gum, Hao thanked his lucky stars that it hadn't hardened _too much_. "Alright, I'm letting you out," he called, opening the door. At that moment, as if a gun went off, Lyserg darted out of the room and disappeared somewhere in the house. Yoh was nursing his lip in the corner, quietly.

"Whoa, what happened, little bro?"

Yoh shook his head. "I don't know how it happened…"

"Yoh, I love you, you know." This Hao said after his recent realization, but Yoh took it as 'I love you no matter what you did'. Feeling slightly ashamed, Yoh hung his head before confessing.

"I kissed Lyserg," he mumbled, sounding like a child caught in wrongdoing. "I'm sorry, I know you two are…"

"Hmm…" Yoh looked up as he heard Hao make a slight noise and was a bit glad to see his brother was looking out the door at where Lyserg had run off to, before suddenly being filled with a blind panic. "No, wait, onii-chan, no, it wasn't Lyserg's fault!"

"I never said it was," Hao said offhandedly, still looking out the door.

"Don't blame him," Yoh begged. "It was me, if you have to be mad at someone. I started it."

"I'm not blaming anyone," Hao said, and his voice sounded far away while he was busying himself with his thoughts. "But it might just do us some good to leave right now."

Pulling his younger twin to his feet, Hao dragged Yoh out the door and across the street to their house. They'd deal with it later. Lyserg watched them out of sight from a window, tracing nothingness on the fog he was breathing on the glass. _Yoh…_

Kimi breathed a sigh of…well, she wasn't sure exactly. It just came out. Pushing her black hair back so she could read the address, she wondered if she could survive her for a week. Hokkaido was nothing like America. After the baggage claim, it had taken her a few minutes to find the pick up spot. Various taxis were driving by, but she was trying to figure out how to say the address. Not to mention it was freezing. And it was supposed to be May! Arg. The flight had been okay, relaxing, but now was complete hell! Without the flames, although she could have used some.

It couldn't be Greenface Road, could it? This kind of kanji was hard to read. It had been scribbled and almost illegible. She had written it in a rush and she wasn't even sure if she had written what the lady had said. Sighing, she decided she'd figure it out in the cab. Sticking out her thumb, she realized that everyone was staring at her now. She saw everyone else was waving for a taxi and she was the only hitchhiker in New York. Oops. Lowering her hand, Kimi noticed a cab pulled up to the curb.

"American Japanese?" the cab driver said in a thick accent.

"Yes," Kimi managed in her dying Japanese knowledge. "Could you…" Uh oh. How did you say drive again? Somehow, she could remember more words in America, but now in the place where she was, she could barely remember essential phrases. Maybe it was fear. She was going to be talking to the Usui branch of the family, which…which…

Which hated her, actually.

The cab driver looked at the mute woman sympathetically. "I speak English too," he tried. "You talk in English, you go. You understand Japanese?"

Kimi nodded.

"You speak English I speak Japanese," the driver nodded in broken English. "Get in."

Thankfully, Kimi pushed her luggage into the back and slipped into the back. "Arigato," she murmured as the cab driver started driving.

"No problem," the driver said, waving one hand. "Where to, miss?"

"Um…" Kimi looked down at the scrap piece of paper and handed it to the driver. "This address, please."

The driver glanced down at the sheet and read it over a few times, still keeping one eye on the road. "I'm sorry, miss, but that address does not exist."

"What?" Damn, she knew she wrote it wrong.

"Where do you want to go?" the driver asked again.

"Uh…the Usui residence," Kimi blurted. He'd probably not know where that was at, but hell, now even she said it. It was reality. She was going to the Usui residence.

"Usui!" the driver cried. "You know them?"

Kimi nodded.

"Why didn't you say so? Everyone knows where that is! Hold on and we'll be there in five!"

Tobecontinued…

Note: Honestly, honestly, I thought I already updated this chapter. But I guess I didn't. that's why, since I made such a big screw up, I will reward you all with a double release! That is the honest reason why I haven't been so frequent with my updates as I used to be. Review!


	9. With You

I've Got All this Ringing in My Ears and None on my Fingers

**Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics. If any of these songs were mine, I wouldn't be writing fanfics.**

Background music: With You – Chris Brown

Chapter 9 – With You

Kimi stood in front of the huge gates. The cab driver leaned out the window. "This is where you want to be, miss. I'm sorry, but civilians and paparazzi aren't allowed any closer. Other wise I would have drove you to the door."

Staring out at the huge front lawn and the various little gardens, Kimi felt a shiver shoot through her. The last time she had been here, she and Hiro had asked for a marriage blessing and were almost chased away. The high roofs were visible over the trees. It was like an olden day Japanese house…after all, it was, and the Usuis only cleaned it up recently and made it more friendly to the technological age they were in.

"Thank you," Kimi said, reverting back to English. Her English American tongue made her less fearful, it was something she was used to and took refuge in. Something familiar, at least, her voice. Handing the driver 1000 yen, she walked up to the gates and saw a call button.

"Good luck, miss," the driver called, noticing the way she seemed so scared. "Whatever you're here for, you're going to get." Stepping on the gas, the driver sped away.

_If only it was that easy._

Extending a manicured finger to the call button, Kimi shrank back. What if they didn't like nail polish? Glancing at her electric blue nails, Kimi wished she had nail polish remover. That had been one of the factors when they were asking for marriage.

"_No, Hiro-san, as your oka-san, I forbid you to marry this woman. She's disgustingly common. Look at her hideous red nail polish!_"

No…

Bzzz. "We welcome you, Kimi. We've been expecting you." An aged voice sounded from the call box and the gates creaked open. "Come in, please."

_Don't worry about my parents, Kimi-chan. They don't understand you. They don't know how unique and different you are. They've lived a sheltered life._

Taking a deep breath, Kimi strode in. Be confident. Be collected. You're going to get what you came for. An ear to listen to you. You're going to get it.

"The heads of the house are just beyond that door."

"Thank you…" Kimi said, turning to the servant. She had entered a blank room, which sliding doors and a plain floor. She crossed the room and pushed at what seemed to be the sliding door to her designated room.

The servant stifled a chuckle. "Sorry, miss, but the door's _that_ way." She pointed to the left.

"Oh." Kimi smiled sheepishly and crossed the room. "But you should really have doors with knobs." She grasped the door and slid it open with more force than necessary. With a slam, she entered.

Oops…

"Kimi Usui…welcome back…" There sounded a faint note of disapproval in that voice and Kimi timidly entered the room. She stood, in a navy blue business suit, in front of a tea table with a kotatsu. On the table were three gray tea cups, two for the people behind them, and one out for her. This room had the altars of grandparents and the smell of incense. One of the sliding doors were open, revealing a porch, where the smoke of the incense was flowing to. Kimi turned to her in-laws.

Maki was the head of the Usui business and was deep in the political and economical business in Japan. But today, he was wearing a dark blue kimono, sitting in the traditional knees forward position, looking at her calmly through dark eyes that were sizing her up. Just like they did last time. But this time, she had the power of youth on her side. They were both well in their sixties and their age was catching up to them. Maki had wisps of gray sprouting on his premature baldness that he had when he was still thirty.

Shino used to be pretty. She had dark hair that imposed her strict and careful nature when it was still so. Her gaze was still steely and Kimi had to exercise all control to stay in the room. But look, she told herself, Shino is nothing compared to you. Her hair is graying and she's frail. Look at her hands. Bony. In a purple kimono that looks like two sizes too big. It is OKAY!

"Sit, please, Kimi-san."

Kimi nodded and stepped forward to the pillow on the ground. Knees first, knees first…she lowered herself down, her heels abandoned at the front door along with the other shoes. She must have looked shabby that moment, because Shino tutted her before taking a sip of tea. Feeling the urge to do the same, Kimi took her up (rather American-like she noticed regretfully) and drank. Yuck! She made a face as she swallowed.

"I take it you don't like the finest tea in Japan," Shino started, sounding disgusted.

_My mother is always strict. Hold your own when you speak to her. But I'll be there. I'll help you._

But Hiro wasn't here for her anymore. She had to be strong.

"I'm sorry," Kimi said quietly, but continued with a need to defend herself. "Tea is always hard to get used to after you've been in America for so long."

"Ah…of course. After years of alcoholic beverages…that explains American all right…"

_There are some battles you won't be able to win, Kimi-chan. Don't worry. You'll win the others. You'll shine through._

"You wanted to see me," Kimi said quietly again, but this time, her voice had authority mixed in. This was why she was here. No use beating around the bush with insults.

"Yes," Maki said, his voice sounding through the room, but it seemed as if Shino did the talking of the family. She continued for her husband. "You called us. You want to come to Japan."

"No. I don't want to come to Japan. Yet, at least. I'm here to talk."

"Talk?" Shino looked insulted, as if talking was vulgar. "Your parents want you to come, why wouldn't you?"

"You're not my parents." Ooh…what did she say? It was too late to take it back. "The children don't want to come," Kimi continued, realizing that her strong Japanese was back. "They like it in America."

"So?"

"The children…!" Kimi gestured with her hands, but lowered them as she saw horror in the elders' eyes. Gesturing wasn't popular while speaking in Japan, it seems. But it was hard to convey her love for her children. "They are used to America. It is hard to move them while they're situated!"

"It's for the better, Kimi-san," Shino said, but Kimi heard the way she had hastily added the 'san'. Shino didn't respect her…never did.

"The better for whom?" Kimi felt her hands quiver and kept them in her lap. "Why do you want us here?"

"We want to meet the remaining family we have." Shino shook her head sadly. "Maki had a stroke two months ago."

That explained why he wasn't speaking often.

"We realized we might have made a mistake. We want you and your children to come here. We've barely met them. We want to know who will be in charge of the Usui business when we are…gone…"

Kimi thought of Horo. Thought of the way he would react when he heard this news. _"Run a business? In Japan? NO EFFING WAY!"_

"The family together is a family forever," Maki said.

That motto again.

"We want the family to be together. It is important to us. We want you to understand."

Kimi sat there. What was there to say? It was better here…the palace house explained that. They could afford the best schools. They would be happy here.

Or would they?

_I'd rather be poor and happy than…than rich and alone!_

Pirka…

_You need to decide. Pirka and I already said no._

Horo…

"You are the parent," Shino said quietly, and this time, there was no negativity in her voice. "You need to think for the good of your children. What will make them the best they can be? Sometimes you have to say no."

_I love you, Kimi, but they don't know that. I don't expect them to understand. _

They didn't. They really didn't.

Were they expecting her to? Could she?

"Hey, what's up?"

Choco felt left out, strangely. Ren and Horo had secret little smiles on that they were oddly secretive about. Well, they were secret smiles…it was infuriating. Turning to the famous little love triangle, Choco realized that they had something kept hidden too.

"Will someone please explain what happened?" Choco asked, as the rest of the group remained silent. Lyserg was keeping his distance from Yoh, who looked somewhat ashamed. Hao was smirking, as if he couldn't wait to spill the secret, but just didn't want to. Ren and Horo exchanged looks.

"Fine, I'll see if I can guess what happened…" He looked at Ren and Horo. "You two did it over the weekend."

"No!" Ren protested, while Horo chuckled. "You're not helping!"

"And you three…" Choco tapped his chin. Lyserg wanted the breakup to stay secret, so he really couldn't say anything. "Hmm…"

"We had a threesome, alright?" Hao said.

"Whoa! Too much information! TMI or whatever!" Choco rushed to cover his face.

"You wanted the truth," Hao shrugged.

"Sit down everyone…" Orona called, shuffling into the room. "SATs are coming, only a week left before!"

A loud, class groan filled the room and Orona didn't look affected. "History study hall for me will be held after school today, along with Faust's chemistry and bio classes and AP classes. Silva's AP American History will be at five and…"

Ring! The bell rang, droning out Orona's speech about after school study halls. The class seemed to scurry out.

Yoh sighed as he got his books together. He had a study hall first period and he really didn't feel like…well, studying. He knew for a fact that Lyserg and Hao also had the free with him, while Ren had gym, Horo had history, and Choco had bio. Strange, he thought, that Lyserg would leave so quickly and leave Hao behind. This was the case today: Lyserg had left the room the second the last note of the bell sounded, leaving Hao behind to get his belongings. Normally, the greenette would have waited, but not today…Hao didn't look affected at all. Yoh felt dread; hopefully this didn't have anything to do with Saturday…

"Yoh."

Yoh turned at the sound of his name. Anna was standing next to him…she looked different today…he almost didn't even recognize her…she wasn't wearing her black hoodie today; instead, she had on the sweater vest that was issued by the school, the navy blue one with the school crest. Her normally black nails were clean today…her skirt was a bit shorter, shorter in the sense of looking good but not compromising her personality of not looking skanky. Her hair was looking normal today, although the brown highlights were still faint. The red scarf was gone (completely gone) and for once…

Anna looked faintly normal. She was even smiling.

"What happened?" Yoh breathed, looking shocked, before suddenly rapidly trying to cover it up. "I mean, you look so different today!"

"Yeah?" Anna laughed, and Yoh was struck with how he had known Anna for so long and he had never heard her laugh before. "Well, I decided a little bit of a change was okay."

"But…"

"What? Did I change too much?" Anna looked down. "You're right. I _am_ skinny. My stepdad said so."

"Your stepdad?"

"Oh." Anna's face fell for a second. "Yeah…I'm adopted."

WHOA! Yoh wasn't sure what to say. "Um…well…why would you tell me this?"

"I don't know. You're the one who made me this way." Anna gestured at her new self. "So I guess you should know."

"But…" Yoh shook his head. "Go on."

Anna stopped for a second. "I don't want to stay here and talk about it. Certain people might think certain things about certain other people and…you know." She shrugged lightly.

"Oh, okay." Yoh quickly grabbed his bag and followed her out of the classroom. "So…"

"So," Anna said, walking down the hall with a bored expression. "What do you want to know?"

How do you ask questions about someone without acting nosy? Impossible, Yoh figured, so he wouldn't try. "Why are you the way you are?" he asked, wondering if there was another way of phrasing such a strange question.

Anna chuckled. "Glad you asked," she said sarcastically. "My biological parents abandoned me."

"What?"

"Yeah." Anna stared forward. "When I was born, my parents were kinda…you know…on bad terms with each other. When I was three, my dad walked out on us and I've never seen him since. My mom took care of me until I was five and then she too left…you know the feeling you get when you're little and you're left home alone while your parents go shopping? The feeling, the doubt that all little kids love getting, the fear that they'll never come home and you have to fend for yourself? That lasted for a long time."

"It wasn't a happy house." Anna paused. "There was a lot of fighting and sometimes I'd be in it. It was hard. There were so many things said…" She looked up. "That's one reason why I don't like Lyserg. He says so many mean things, and maybe he doesn't mean it, like maybe my parents didn't mean to call me those things, but they still hurt, you know?"

Yoh nodded.

"And unlike Lyserg, it never occurred to them to apologize. They never apologized. They never forgot either. It was like being in a storm and it never stops. Maybe it calms down, but then you know it's coming. I started staying away and playing by myself. My parents' parents were much helps either. Dysfunctional. They said mean things too. Everyone around me said mean things until you know…"

"You started believing in them."

Anna nodded. "I had a few friends but I quickly left them because who knew what they were staying about me behind my back? I know my parents spoke about me behind my back. There was no trust. After they left me, I traveled around like a library book with my relatives and it was chaos. Twelve years, Yoh. Again and again."

Anna shrugged. "I tried to kill myself a few times, actually."

"What?"

"Yeah." Anna pulled back her sleeves and revealed faint pink scars. "But that was five years ago. I realized that if I tried to kill myself, that was the easy way out. And I personally can't stand people taking the easy way out. Maybe because everyone _can_. I can't. So…" Anna pulled the sleeves over her arms again. "Another reason I can't wear team uniforms."

Yoh nodded again.

"Then two years ago, my now stepdad, who's a social worker, discovered how I was living and took me out. I've been living with him ever since. He's a nice guy, but he doesn't really know how children work. If he did, maybe it wouldn't take you to tell me to stop acting emo. He just lets me do what I want, as long as it doesn't hurt me or anything. He tries," she said shortly.

"I…I never knew."

"That was the point."

"I'm sorry." Yoh didn't know what else to say. "But…your life _sucks_."

Anna laughed. "It does, right? Go ahead, feel sorry for me."

"I don't." Anna stared at him. "I mean, I'm worried about you, but I don't feel sorry for you."

"Why?" Anna's gaze became hard. "You think I deserve it?"

"No, no one deserves it. But people only feel sorry for someone if that someone doesn't do anything about their situation. You've changed. You were strong even though your parents and relatives were mean to you. Why would you feel sorry for someone who's in charge of their life?"

Anna stared at him again. "Yoh, you're so…honest."

"Yeah, I know."

"I kind of get why you and Lyserg are good together."

Yoh smiled, feeling a faint blush going on. "Well…that doesn't matter anymore."

"Why the hell not?"

"Cause he's going out with Hao. Didn't you notice?"

"I notice everything. And in case you didn't notice, they changed."

Saturday.

"They're not…as tight anymore," Anna said, looking up at Yoh. "What's wrong?"

"Well…maybe it was my fault."

"How?"

"Um…" Yoh felt strange discussing this with a complete stranger. "Well…over the weekend…"

"You made out?"

"Pretty much."

Anna sighed. "Watching people is useful, Yoh. You can tell a lot about someone if you read their body language." She sighed again. "I guess it's hopeless for you three. You need someone to intervene. It's a vicious circle."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…" She stopped and turned, Yoh doing the same. Lyserg was walking at a distance behind them, and being found out, the boy turned and started running down the hallway.

"Lyserg!" Yoh glanced at Anna, who gave him a look like 'go ahead'. Without wasting another second, Yoh chased after the greenette, who was almost sprinting toward the stairs.

"Wait, Lyserg!" Yoh let his bookbag fall onto the ground with a thump, and with the extra weight lost, he was able to catch up to Lyserg. "Lyserg, why were you following us?" Grabbing the younger boy's wrist, Yoh pulled him to a stop, but Lyserg didn't turn around.

"Answer me." It was an order but the tone was soft, a question. Lyserg seemed rooted on the spot, so Yoh let go of him. Now was not the time to make more incriminating incidences.

"I was just…" Lyserg's voice was soft and fragile. "I was just seeing how…how you two were doing."

"Us _two_?" Yoh asked.

"Yeah. You and Anna."

"What about us?"

Sometimes Yoh's denseness was so _annoying_! "She likes you!" Lyserg cried, turning on Yoh. "And you're just inviting her on…didn't you know that? Why are you so stupid?"

"I'm _stupid_?" Yoh frowned with frustration. "What are you talking about? She doesn't like me like that."

"How do you know?"

"She told me."

"Of course she wouldn't tell you if she liked you," Lyserg said exasperatingly. "No one in their right mind would do that."

"I would."

"But no one is like you!" Lyserg fell silent as he saw Yoh's face. "She likes you," he persisted, "and you're just making it worse."

"Making it worse for whom? Alright, say she likes me. So what?"

"So what? How do you think that makes _me_ feel?"

Yoh blinked. "How it makes _you_ feel? Why do you care? You like Hao."

"I…" Lyserg sniffed and realized he was crying. Dammit! He had promised himself that he would never cry again at school. He had changed. He was different from how he had been since sixth grade! And now Yoh was making him crumble.

"Lyserg, listen to yourself. You're not making any sense. What do you mean I don't notice anything around me? I thought…" Yoh paused. "I thought you liked Hao…" Realization was starting to dawn on Yoh.

"I do!" Lyserg said hurriedly, quickly wiping tears away so he could see clearly. "I do! I…" Lyserg shook his head. "I…I don't like you anymore, Yoh. I-I did…but I like Hao now. I'm sorry." Lyserg didn't know why he found it important to apologize and turned to run up the stairs behind him. This time, Yoh didn't follow him.

Kimi walked out of the Usui house. She had made up her mind. There was no time to waste. She had to hurry back to the kids and tell them. The sooner this was over, the sooner everyone would be happy. She vaguely realized she had left the luggage on the cab. Damn. Oh well, she could do without those changes of clothes. She could get new ones now.

"Thank you for coming," Shino called from the door. Why did she find it important to see her off? Kimi thought. It wasn't as if there wouldn't be more times to see each other.

By the time she reached the gates, she realized there was a cab there. She hadn't realized someone from the house had called for one. Then she realized the cabby.

"Hello…sorry, I left the luggage in the trunk," Kimi apologized.

"I realized. That's why I came back. You're leaving already?"

"Yes. Please, drive me to the airport!"

"Leaving _Japan_ so soon?"

"Yes! I have important news to bring to my kids!" Kimi hopped into the vehicle. "Step on it!"

Horo was quiet again today, Ren thought as he drove them both home. "Were you fired?" Ren asked, the first question that came to his mind.

"What?" Horo's incredulous voice asked from next to him. Horo turned from the front passenger's seat.

"You. You're quiet. Did something bad happen?"

"No."

"Don't lie to me, Horokeu." Ren smiled to himself as he noticed Horo squirming. That was a weak spot, his full name.

"I already told you," Horo muttered, looking out the window.

"Told me that nothing bad happened? And I told you I don't believe you."

"No, I told you what's going on already."

Ren frowned as he searched his memory. "No, you didn't."

"Yes. Last week."

Ren thought back. "You said…what did you say?"

"I said, what would you do if I went away?"

Ren stared at him. "You're moving?"

Horo shrugged. "I don't know anymore. My mom won't make up her mind."

"Where would you go?"

"Japan."

"Japan?" Ren's eyes widened. "Like, the Japan across the sea?"

"Do you know another one?" Horo asked, smiling ruefully. "Yeah. My retarded grandparents want us to go back."

"Do you want to?"

"No."

"Why didn't you say this sooner?"

"Would you all wanted to know?" Horo asked.

Ren considered this. Until now, he had been confident that Horo would be here and he wouldn't have to worry about the stupid Usui leaving until senior year. "Are you really going?" Ren asked casually, trying not to draw attention to his shock.

"I don't know yet. But my mom wants us to."

"When would you come back?"

"I don't know. They want us to _stay_ there, you know."

Stay there? Ren turned to Horo and saw the boy looking back at him. Quickly turning back to the road, Ren hurried on with his questions. "Um…if you went, when would you go?"

"End of junior year."

That left only about three weeks left! "What…what about the roadtrip?" Ren asked, groping for an excuse.

"I don't want to go either," Horo said quietly, and this tone of finality scared Ren. "Pull over, Ren, you're swerving."

Damn it. Ren slowed to a stop and parked in a park parking lot. Kids ran by, screaming. Summer break was coming and today was a nice day.

"Don't tell the others," Horo continued in his calm voice. "They have enough to worry about."

Ren didn't say anything and gripped the steering wheel even though he had already turned off the car.

"I'm going to miss you," Horo said, looking and sounding tired at the same time.

"Dammit, why don't you ever tell anyone these kinds of things?" Ren shouted. "You always keep everything in! You're so…you're so like Yoh!"

"I don't know if we're going or not," Horo said quietly, letting Ren's anger go over his head. "So I don't want everyone to be overly worried or something over nothing."

"You said your mom was considering it."

"Yeah…"

Ren groaned, knocking his head against the horn and the car let out a loud BEEP, scaring all the kids nearby. "What am I going to do about you?" he muttered.

"Sorry," Horo murmured. The two of them sat in silence for a while, Horo staring out at the trees and the rest of the park, while Ren stared at his feet.

"Ren…" Horo's voice sounded aimless and lazy. "You know I like you, right?"

Choco sighed contently as he stretched out on campus. The history study hall had been fairly easy…he knew most of the stuff…now, as he waited for a ride home, he lay beneath a tree, covered with shade as the May sun beat down. No one was around, but he looked around all the same before sliding on his glasses.

Instantly, two figures appeared in front of him in the darkened lenses.

Choco never told anyone about these people. No one needed to know. He didn't understand it either. But somehow, through these glasses…

Well…he could see the dead.

"Chocolove," said the shorter figure, a dark shinned woman with kind eyes. "We're glad to see you studying hard."

"Eh," Choco said. "All parents do."

He had to be careful when he spoke to his parents. Anyone listening would think he was cracked.

"Your friends are strange ones," his father said amusedly, looking toward the school as if it represented his friends. "So different…"

"Yeah, you tell me," Choco said, closing his eyes. He had grown past looking at them. He could just feel them now. He always felt them watching over him, but with the sunglasses, it felt as if they were live, and sitting next to him like they were now.

Maybe he was cracked. Maybe his mind was playing tricks on him, that these were just figments of his imagination. Maybe he was just going crazy.

But right now, he'd like to think he was completely sane. After all, he believed in a sixth sense. Maybe he had one.

"Your friends are hurting," his mother murmured, her voice sounding like the breeze.

"I know," Choco said, not opening his eyes.

"What are you going to do?"

"What can I do? They won't say anything to me."

"You're going to have to try harder." Choco opened his eyes. His mother was looking at him. "That one boy…the pretty one with the green hair…"

"Lyserg?"

"Yes. He's vulnerable right now. I'm sure you can help him." She smiled. "You're special, Choco, even without seeing us. You have a gift. Humor might not be your strong spot…"

Choco groaned. His parents didn't even think so. Even so, his mother chuckled before continuing. "…but…Choco, I think you can help them. You care about them, don't you?"

"Yeah."

"You can do it," his father said. "Just like you're going to ace your SATs."

"Thanks," Choco said, and as he nodded, the shades slid off his nose and the two disappeared. He sighed and took them off and slid them into his pocket.

Maybe he was crazy, but he didn't think so. They comforted him and the reason he was the way he was. He had a feeling that once he was done with high school, they would fade out of his life, but he wasn't going to think about that.

Taking a stretch, Choco settled down on the grass and decided to take a nap.

Tobecontinued…

Note: wow. Just wow. The story takes a turn. For the better or the worse, though? Review please!

ADVERTISEMENT: IN THE NEAR FUTURE, SPECIAL QUESTIONS WILL BE ANSWERED. IMPORTANT AND UNANSWERED QUESTIONS, SUCH AS REN'S STRANGE HEIGHT AND HAIR COLOR WILL BE ANSWERED. TUNE IN TO CHANNEL MANKINFAN SOON!


	10. Realize

**Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics. If any of these songs were mine, I wouldn't be writing fanfics.**

Background music: Realize – Colbie Caillat

Chapter 10 – Realize

Yoh trudged in his room and realized there was someone already in it. "Hao? How did you get home faster than me?"

Hao shrugged. "You were lagging behind. Oh, and you were talking to Anna."

Yoh rolled his eyes. "Why does everyone like to bring her up when we're talking about me? I don't like her, alright?"

"I never said that you did," Hao retorted. "But I heard Lyserg did."

"Yeah…" Yoh took a breath. "I was meaning to talk about that, Hao…"

"Yoh, I'm not going to wait any longer to say this, but…" Hao paused for effect and waited until he had Yoh's full attention. "I'm thinking of breaking up with Lyserg."

"What?!" Yoh nearly did a double take. "Why would you do that?"

Hao looked surprised at this reaction. "What do you mean?"

"He…he likes you, Hao! Why would you do that?"

Hao stared at him. "I'm bored of him."

Yoh looked angry. Hao nearly backed off himself. "You're _bored_ with him? And that's the reason you want to break up with him? That's a horrible thing to do!"

"Why would you be so upset?" Hao shouted, in order to be heard. "You like him, so wouldn't this be your big chance to get back together?"

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! I don't know how Lyserg feels anymore, but he's not interested in me anymore! And in case you haven't noticed, he seems happy going out with you!"

"Well, I'm not anymore," Hao protested. "And why still string someone along if there's nothing left?"

"You just said you were bored! You have to be more considerate than that!"

"More considerate than…say, you?"

Yoh paused in his rant to look at his older brother. "What?"

"You like him, utouto, but you don't do anything about it."

"Yes, I like him, onii-chan, I think we've established that already! I _love_ Lyserg, but if doesn't want to accept that, then I'm okay with that! Today he told me he liked you, and if I know you, I don't think you're just playing with him either."

"So?"

"So?!" Hao noticed Yoh's composure slipping. "If you break up with him, I'm never speaking to you again."

Hao shrugged. "Why are you getting so dramatic?"

"What's this about me? I don't want to see Lyserg get hurt! You can be pretty mean sometimes, Hao, and I just know you're going to say something unforgivable when you're breaking up with him!"

"You don't know me."

Yoh gave up. "Hao, you're impossible!" He turned and stormed down the stairs. After a while, Hao heard the unmistakable slam of the side door.

Hao sighed. "Sorry, utouto," he murmured. "I didn't mean for you to get so angry." He raised his voice. "Lyserg, you can get out of there now. He's outside."

There was a silence before the closet door's knob turned slightly and Lyserg walked out, sheet white and looking close to tears.

"Well, I hope you got what you wanted," Hao sighed. "What you were looking for."

Ren closed his eyes and listened to the wind. The aqua school tie had been loosened around his neck and was lying limply around him. There were faint bird calls and car noises. Lying on his back on the roof of this apartment building, he kind of understood why Horo liked being here. It was calming.

There was a creak behind him and Ren looked up to see everything upside down. Horo was standing at the door to the roof, holding two cans of soda. Thinking back to the Coke incident, Ren sat up.

"Catch." Horo threw one can to Ren, who caught it with one hand. Setting it down to settle so it wouldn't get all over himself, Ren watched Horo as he walked over to him and sat down next to him. He'd never hung out with Horo alone much. It almost always included the others, and if not everyone else, at least Yoh. After all, Horo and Yoh were best friends. He and Horo were friends too…but there was always a feeling of awkwardness between them.

Horo stared out beyond the chain fence that prevented accidental falls and intentional suicides. There were other apartments here; it was an apartment complex that shared one huge courtyard with various trees and picnic benches. It was a peaceful place – traffic seemed slower here and the sunset was amazing.

Of course he'd notice it. He was a rabid tree hugger. He wasn't sure when he had started being so green, but he figured it probably had to do with after he watched An Inconvenient Truth. Probably after five times, you'd think the message would sink in.

"I can't believe you actually want to hang out with me alone," Horo started, breaking the silence. "I mean, I thought you'd be terrified, me being a sex addict and everything."

"I think I can handle your addiction for the time being," Ren said, rolling his eyes.

There was a pause. "See, that's why I didn't want to tell you anything."

Ren opened his Coke. "What do you mean?"

"You're being nice to me."

"Me, being nice to you?" Ren scoffed. "You wish."

"Yeah, I wish. But I mean you're being all nice to me…relatively," added Horo, "because there's a chance I'm leaving."

"I don't care."

"You say that, but you really do." Horo leaned back. "You never show your feelings, so when you do, it's kind of obvious."

"I didn't know I was being obvious," Ren said.

"You are. Well…not really, I mean, I don't think _they_'d notice…but I do."

"Oh, yes, of course, you can read me better than anyone else," Ren said sarcastically.

Horo sighed. "Well, if you don't want to listen…"

Ren fell silent.

"See, you're being nice again."

"Do you _want_ me to be mean?" Ren asked, turning to the blued haired boy. "You're a masochist, is that it?"

"No, but when you're mean, it feels like everything's…you know…normal. Yeah, I know you still hate that word, but that's the only word to use. I don't know what happened, but it's like something's made everything…not normal."

"Abnormal."

"Whatever. The love triangle's been at each other for like, months. You're changing. Only Choco seems usual these days."

"Choco always stays the same," Ren said, rolling his eyes. "A choco full of bad jokes."

Horo laughed and Ren was reminded of how he liked hearing that laugh, even though it was loud and overwhelming.

"I'm really going to miss things like this," Horo sighed, lying down and using his arms as a pillow.

"You always talk as if you're really moving," Ren said, looking down at him. "You said your mom hadn't made up her mind yet."

"Well, she's gone over to Japan, which is why she's not here right now. Does that explain anything?"

"There was something I was wondering."

"Hmm?" Horo closed his eyes.

"Whenever we hang out…" Ren wasn't sure how to phrase this question. It sounded so awkward when he went over it in his head. "...there are always times when you could come on to me, but you never do it. Why's that?"

Horo opened his eyes again. "I thought it would be obvious," he said, looking surprised. "It would make you uncomfortable, so I don't do it."

"Ah." Ren settled himself down next to Horo, close enough to be 'more than just friends', but far enough without being obvious. Just as he was getting comfortable, Horo sat up with the speed of a gun.

"Are you…" Horo trailed off, looking down at Ren, who was looking at him with a bored expression. No doubt he saw excitement in the sky blue eyes. "Ren…hey…can I…you know…"

"Do what?" Ren asked. He may have been considerably nicer to Horo (this is NOT a confession!), but he still liked torturing the Usui as much as possible.

"Can I…" Horo's face flushed but the anticipation was still there. "Can I…kiss you?"

Ren stared back at him with a blank expression, but there was no sign of disapproval so Horo shrugged and went for it. He leaned down slowly, brushing Ren's still lips with his own, expecting the Tao to pull away, but when no such thing happened, he decided to deepen it. Slowly…gently…so Ren would find no reason to feel uncomfortable.

Ren was surprised at how gentle Horo could be. He paused as he felt Horo hesitantly lick his bottom lip, shyly requesting entrance into his mouth. Whoa…Ren hadn't been expecting his first kiss to be open mouth. But hell, while he was at it, why not. He felt Horo pull back slightly but when the other realized it was permitted, the kiss became longer, more passionate.

As Horo pulled away, Ren still felt drawn to the Usui and sat up. Horo was looking at the ground, trying to hide his triumph. "Thank you," he mumbled quietly.

"Why are you thanking me?" Ren asked, trying to seek those blue eyes.

"I don't know. I guess…" Horo looked up and locked eyes with Ren. "I guess I just never thought I'd ever be able to do that."

Ren stared at him. "I mean…I guess what I'm trying to say is…I never thought you'd…" Horo looked down again.

"Be interested in you?"

"Yeah." Horo looked up. "You are, right?"

Ren turned red. "Uh…"

"You don't have to answer right now," Horo said hurriedly. "I mean, I understand if you don't or anything…we can still be friends."

"Um, right." Ren turned away, unsure of what to say now. How _did_ he feel anyway? He didn't know anymore.

Lyserg sat on the shrink's couch, cross-legged, trying to do his homework. He didn't feel like going home today…actually, no scratch that, he didn't want to walk home with the Asakuras today. So he made an excuse that he wanted to stay back and study, but when he went to the library, it was crowded with noisy students. So he went to the only place where there was sure to be peace and quiet.

Marco's office.

There had been 'stress management sessions', but no one had went to them. Thus, Marco sat by himself, sulking in his office. Lyserg felt bad for him and decided to keep him company.

"Are you ready for the SATs?" Marco asked, writing something at his desk.

"Yeah, I think so." Lyserg flipped to the back of his textbook to check his answers.

There was another silence. "Mr. Diethyl, I've noticed something."

"Hmm?" Lyserg didn't look up.

"It's about Mr. Asakura."

"Oh, him. Hao's going to get in trouble for PDA, isn't he? Sorry, I'll tell him to stop."

"Not Hao. I meant Yoh."

Lyserg stopped. "What about Yoh?"

"You two. Didn't you two used to be a couple?"

"Yes…" Lyserg wasn't sure where this conversation was going. "But we broke up two months ago."

"May I ask why? I heard it was sudden and unexplained. I thought you two were happy." Marco's face seemed to brighten talking about _someone's _love life. His was kind of non-existent, with Jeanne holding off the marriage until a later date.

"We were…"

"Then what happened?"

Lyserg looked up. A flicker of doubt flittered through his eyes. "Well…"

"This is a strict student-teacher conversation. What's said in this room stays in this room."

Lyserg still looked doubtful, but continued. "He…Yoh, I mean…said something he shouldn't have."

"Was it vulgar or mean?"

"No, nothing like that! Yoh's not like that…" Lyserg shook his head.

"Did it make you uncomfortable?"

Lyserg nodded.

"Why didn't you tell him?"

"Because he meant it. I didn't want to tell him not to say it again, because I _do_ want to hear him say it again…" Lyserg stopped, a blush creeping across his face.

"What did he say?"

Lyserg remained silent.

"Those three words, right?"

Still mute, Lyserg nodded. "I mean, I feel the same way but…" Suddenly Lyserg looked up, suspicious. "Did someone come and tell you about this?"

"No, why would you think so?"

But the suspicion was already there, and under its blanket, Lyserg refused to say anything else. "I think it's time for me go, sorry. I'll see you later." Lyserg quickly gathered his belongings and headed for the door.

"Good luck with the SATs," Marco said helpfully.

"Thanks…" Lyserg paused as he reached for the doorknob. "And I think you should talk with Jeanne if you ever want to get married." Without another word, he left the office.

Marco turned back to the sheets he was filling out. After a few minutes the door creaked open again. The counselor looked up and nodded. "Thank you for telling me."

"No problem. Was he okay?"

"Just a little confused, I think. Nothing time won't fix. You say Mr. Asakura still feels the same way?"

"Yoh? Yeah, of course he does."

"Then it should all blow over soon." Marco looked back down at his papers. "In fact, it may be over sooner than we think, if they're really working together for English."

"You think so?"

"Yes." Marco looked up again. "Why would you tell me this for?"

"Because Lyserg listens to you. None of us are getting through to him or Yoh, and it's…" Pause. "It's sad watching them hurt like this."

"They didn't seem like they had a problem. How did you know?"

"Call it a sixth sense." Choco grinned. "Anyway, thanks a lot, Marco."

He couldn't believe it. Someone had to have tipped Marco off. Lyserg hurried through the hallways. Or maybe he was just being obvious? Did everyone know? How embarrassing…not only was his _mother_ writing about his lovelife, but apparently everyone at _school_ knew too!

Still preoccupied, he turned the corner and ran into someone. "Sorry," he mumbled as he backed away and realized it was Yoh. Feeling a blush creep on his face again, Lyserg's eyes instantly darted to the ground. "What are you still doing here?"

"I was looking for you." Yoh sounded surprised. "We still have to work on the English assignment, remember?"

"Oh…yeah, I forgot…" Lyserg looked up slowly, but Yoh had an understanding look on his face. "Well, we should actually get started on it, hmm? Your house or mine?"

"I don't care," Lyserg muttered. Both options had their drawbacks. At Yoh's house, there would be a lot more people: Yoh's mother who seemed almost obsessed with their relationship, not to mention Hao. Damn, Hao would make everything harder. At his house, his parents were probably gone, his father always on duty these days and his mother at her editor's house. But at his house, more awkward moments like Saturday had a bigger chance of happening, with no supervision and all.

"Okay…" Yoh paused and watched Lyserg, and together, seemed to come to the same conclusion at the same time. "My house it is."

Hao whined, pawing on the door. "Utouto, let me in."

"No. Go away."

"I am NOT going to do anything bad," Hao continued, crossing his fingers.

"Uncross your fingers, onii-chan."

"Aw, how did you know?" Hao whined some more before giving up and sulking downstairs.

Yoh let out a breath of relief. He had locked the bedroom door from Hao, and yes, even though Lyserg seemed more awkward around him now, at least Hao wouldn't be an issue. Or his mother. No, his mother would find something to tease him about. "So, what should we write about?" Yoh asked, changing the subject. He turned on his desktop, which he discovered he had after throwing most of the clothes off the desk. The monitor flashed on.

"I don't know." Lyserg was sitting on his bed, a safe six feet away from him.

"That's a problem…especially since it's due next Monday…"

There was a silence as Yoh waited for the computer to load up. "I do have something…if we don't have anything left…"

Yoh turned in the swirly seat and Lyserg suddenly looked like he was on the hot seat. "Go ahead."

"Um…my…my mother wrote something new," Lyserg said slowly, suddenly immensely interested in the little patch of carpet buried under layers of clothes on the floor. "It was a new novel, but it hasn't been published yet…but we can make it a little remix and no one would know…"

"What's it about?" Yoh turned and clicked on a Word document.

There was an embarrassed silence, before, "Us…"

"Us?" Yoh turned again. "Your mother wrote a novel about _us_?"

Lyserg nodded, still staring at the patch of carpet.

"What…about us?"

"The…breakup…"

Yoh felt a blush grow on his face. "Oh."

"I didn't tell her anything about us, I swear! I don't know how she decided to write about this but she didn't tell me about it until a few days ago!" Lyserg cried, looking up at Yoh. "Please don't be mad or anything…I didn't tell her anything…"

"I'm not mad," Yoh said, turning away. "It's just…I can't believe it…"

"She didn't use our names," Lyserg said, his voice loosing volume. "It's a completely different circumstance but a lot of details are similar…the ending's still up in the air because…"

"Because?" Yoh prompted, still staring at the blank monitor.

"Because…she…she doesn't know why we broke up."

_I don't know either_. "Well, we can probably muddle our way through that," Yoh said quickly. "It's technically our story, so we should be able to write about it. It hasn't been published so no one knows about it, and if we tweak it a bit…"

"It was just a suggestion," Lyserg said quietly, as if Yoh had rejected it.

"Why don't you come over here and help me write it?" Yoh suggested, but quickly backtracked. "Um, unless you don't want to, then you can just stay there…"

"No, I can come over there…" Lyserg walked over to Yoh, who scooted over to make room for him. The desk chair was a bit like a piano bench, because as Keiko put it, "You and Hao can go do…whatever you want on your computer together!"

Only their mother would encourage them to see porn. But maybe because she knew they both weren't into things like that: Yoh obviously was the goodie-two-shoes and Hao…well, Hao always said he was going to do bad things, but didn't actually _do_ them.

Bad things in the sense of morally wrong.

And morally wrong really depends on what you consider is 'morally wrong'.

Hao didn't actually want to kill anyone, for example.

But he was okay with running around school with a sign around his neck reading 'I'm skipping school'.

Silva was steadily buying hair dye.

"So…what should we call this?"

"Our story?" Lyserg suggested, just to break the silence and was surprised to see Yoh actually type it in. "It's just the title," Yoh explained. "Chloe wouldn't know it was really us. I mean, a lot of plays actually use weird names, so ours should be okay.

"Besides, it's the _characters'_ stories, technically. Not _ours_."

Lyserg nodded slowly.

"So what were the people's names?"

"L-Leif…Angel…and…"

"There's more than two characters?" Yoh asked, surprised as he typed in the names of the characters.

"Yeah…those were 'our' names. Then there's Duke…"

"Hao?"

"Mm-hmm…" Lyserg stared at the computer screen, where the words were appearing. "Those were the major characters. There were parts where Angel was talking to her mother or other friends…"

"It was from Angel's point of view?"

"It changed."

"Ah." Lyserg wondered how on earth did talking suddenly seem to bring them closer. Yoh's shoulder was gently bumping against his as the other typed, but Yoh seemed too preoccupied to notice. A voice in the back of his head told him to shift to the side, but Lyserg ignored it. It felt good to be this close to Yoh again.

"So how did it begin?" Yoh asked.

"Um…" Lyserg looked away before restarting. "In…in bed…"

"Whoa!" Yoh laughed, typing in Act 1, Scene 1. "Your mom knows he haven't done it yet, right?" Suddenly seeing the error of his words, Yoh stopped laughing. "I mean, we didn't do it…" Feeling defeated, Yoh let his right hand drop to the seat as he leaned back to think. Without consciously realizing it, Yoh's hand searched out Lyserg's and gripped it. Lyserg looked down at it and looked away, but didn't pull back. Already, the familiar warmth he got whenever he was in contact with Yoh was already seeping through his body, like the warmth that engulfs you once you step inside after just standing the cold.

"Lyserg," Yoh said softly, suddenly feeling vulnerable. "I miss you."

Lyserg didn't say anything.

"You're…you're right _here_, but I feel like I've lost you or something…it's hard to explain." Yoh sighed let go of Lyserg's hand. "But you probably don't care, since you and Hao are…kinda…"

"We broke up."

Yoh turned to Lyserg. "What?"

"Hao. We broke up." Lyserg stared at the desk as if something interesting was on it, just Yoh's black hoodie and one of Hao's shiny belts.

"Augh…" Yoh let out a sigh of frustration as he ran one hand through his hair. "I told him…he shouldn't have done that, I'm sorry…"

"No, _I _broke up with him." Lyserg knew Yoh was looking at him again but didn't turn. "I ended things between us…it was over for a few weeks already…I'm sorry, I should have told you but I…"

Yoh was quiet.

"I'm sorry, Yoh, I should have told you…I know I should have…"

"Then it's okay to do this?" Lyserg turned and Yoh leaned forward, gently pressing his lips against Lyserg's. The greenette's mouth had been slightly open in shock in the first place so Yoh easily slid his tongue in the other's mouth, slowly exploring each corner. The younger twin felt Lyserg timidly respond before suddenly pushing him away. Yoh backed off, staring at Lyserg, who had turned away with a hand over his mouth, like a shield against him.

"Too soon…" Yoh murmured. "Or maybe you don't want…sorry, Lyserg. I didn't mean to come on to you like that."

"No…it's…why don't we just finish this thing?" Lyserg mumbled.

"Yeah."

Tobecontinued…

Note: Wow. Wow. This chapter knocked a lot of things out of the water. A lot. Well, maybe not as much as I say, but by now, you should know we're nearing the turning point of the whole shebob and the end of the story. Fate works itself out in mysterious ways, dear reader. Please leave your review at the sound of the tone. TONE!


	11. How to Save a Life

**Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics. If any of these songs were mine, I wouldn't be writing fanfics.**

Background music: How to Save a Life – The Fray

Chapter 11 – How to Save a Life

Horo seemed overly excited that it actually bordered on twitchy. Yoh wondered what on earth could have happened to make Horo so jumpy. It had to have been something good or else the Usui wouldn't be smiling so much. Yoh was thinking of asking him later as he walked out to his locker in the hall, but Horo cornered him and told him anyway.

"Guess what, Yoh?" Horo said breathlessly, appearing suddenly next to Yoh's locker. Yoh stared at him as he shoved his history textbook into the barf colored locker. "Um, what?"

"Guess."

"Um…I can't." Yoh gave him a blank look before his face lit up with an idea. "Oh! Does it have something to do with Ren maybe?"

"Yeah!" Horo chuckled. "Yesterday I kissed him."

"Okay." Yoh wasn't sure what he should have been expecting. Shutting his locker and spinning the lock combination aimlessly, Horo stared at him.

"You're not surprised?"

"Not really."

"Why?" Horo stared at him some more. "Were you expecting this?"

"I don't know. I think we were all sort of. Your guys' flirting wasn't exactly hidden, if you know what I mean."

"So you think he likes me?"

"I don't know. You know Ren. He doesn't show anything." Yoh shrugged. "But if he let you kiss him, I guess so. You know how he can be."

Horo's smile seemed to double in size. "That's great." Then his smile faded a bit. "What's wrong with you? You seem moody."

Yoh gave him the look of the dead and Horo shrank back. "Whoa, you can tell me."

"Did you know Lyserg and Hao broke up?"

Horo blinked. "They did? I was wondering why we never saw them making out lately…how did you find out?"

"Lyserg told me."

Horo grinned and slapped Yoh on the back. "Well, that's good, right? Lyserg told you himself, so maybe you should go ahead and make a move!"

"I did."

Horo's mouth fell open. "You?! You, _Yoh_, made a move? For real?"

Hao's '_We always have to do _everything_ for you_' rang in his ears as Yoh nodded. "Is it that surprising?"

"Yeah, cause you're so…zippered."

"Zippered?" Yoh laughed.

"So what happened?"

Yoh's smile slid off his face. "He…he kinda pushed me away."

"Damn. But don't give up, Yoh. You know Lyserg. He's kind of shy when it comes to you."

Kind of shy? Yoh gave Horo a skeptical look as they walked into the classroom. If giving him a huge hug every morning counted as kind of shy, then he didn't know what Tamao qualified as. Pirka's friend was always being a wallflower.

"MORNING, YOH!" Choco suddenly appeared out of no where. "What's up, buddy?"

Horo and Yoh gave him a blank look. "What?"

Choco ignored Horo and threw an arm around Yoh's neck. "Don't sweat it," he grinned, as if it made sense. "You took a shower this morning."

"What?" Yoh asked again, still confused. "And how did you know that?"

"Your hair's still wet. But that's not what I'm trying to say! SO!" Choco whipped back in front of them. "Don't give up about the issue, Yoh!"

"What are you talking about?" Horo asked, baffled. "It's too early in the morning to be bullshitting."

"I'm NOT!" Choco protested, waving his arms comically. "I do NOT shit bulls!"

"Okay, this conversation is over," Horo said, rolling his eyes and trying to push past Choco. Choco let Horo pass but when Yoh tried to do the same thing, Choco strung an arm around his neck. "I meant the issue with Lyserg. Remember it." Choco grinned and flounced away. Yoh stood there, wondering what the hell was going on.

"Yoh." Yoh jumped as he felt someone prod him with a binder. Anna was standing behind him, looking normal again. "You're in the way."

"Oh, sorry." Yoh leapt out of the way. When Anna still didn't move, Yoh looked at her. "What's up?"

"Vicious circle," Anna murmured and there was a clattering noise. Yoh looked down and saw her clutching the famous blue beads. Okay, so maybe Anna wasn't _completely_ normal. Backing away, Yoh decided to get out of her vicinity. "SO, um, yeah…see you later, Anna!"

Anna nodded slowly as she felt a pair of eyes on her. Turning slowly, she noticed Lyserg look away quickly. This was getting irritating. Making her way to the Diethyl's desk, she ignored various calls of 'good morning' from fellow classmates. All lies. They hadn't acknowledged her when she was still in black, and they were just being friendly because of what she looked like. As she neared the desk, Ren Tao, who had been quietly discussing something with Lyserg, slid off the desk and walked away.

"You're Lyserg, right?" Anna asked, rapping Lyserg's desk with her knuckle.

"Yeah…" Lyserg gave her a searching look. "What's up?"

"Don't give me that." Anna gripped the blue beads in her hand. "I heard the rumors you've been spreading about me."

"What would that be?" Lyserg asked innocently.

"I said, don't give me that!" Anna slapped his desk, suddenly earning a tender silence in the homeroom. "Let me make this perfectly clear to everyone! I do _not_ like Yoh Asakura, nor do I intend to! Just because you're still hung up on him does not make me the scapegoat for all your shit…"

Anna stopped as she felt someone rest a hand on her shoulder. Whizzing around to give the person what he (or she) had coming, she paused as she saw Yoh standing behind her, giving her a hard look.

"That's enough," he said quietly. "Anna and I are just friends. That's all." The class gave them tentative looks before turning to each other to discuss this new development. Anna, though, apparently wasn't done yet. Slapping the blue beads on Lyserg's desk, Anna's steely glare didn't disappear, although Lyserg had jumped at the sound. "Don't you _ever_ pick on me just because you're not strong enough to face the truth." Anna shook Yoh's hand off her shoulder and made her way to the back of the classroom, where her desk was.

"Lyserg were _you_ really the one spreading that rumor?" Yoh turned to Lyserg, his hard look still locked on his face. Lyserg faltered for a second.

"I…I just…I just thought…"

"Please don't do that anymore," Yoh said. "You're not the kind of person who would lie. I'm…a little disappointed." Without another word, Yoh made his way to the back of the classroom to apologize to Anna.

_No…Yoh's mad at me. Please don't be mad at me!_ Lyserg felt his hands shake as he sat there. After a few minutes, Ren made his way over. "Lyserg…"

"Y-Yeah?"

"Don't worry about it. It'll pass over." Ren gave an icy look to a group of girls who passed by.

"Yeah…" Lyserg murmured quietly.

--

Yoh seemed to be in a better mood after school, but Lyserg didn't dare say anything about it. Both employed Hao to stay in the room as they did their English final to assure no more awkward moments. Hao had snatched at this chance to make out with Lyserg, but after finding out the gig was up, he sat there and actually behaved like an appropriate older brother, making sure the two stayed on topic.

It was mostly quiet as Hao broke the silences with random sayings and other things that just popped out of his head. "I heard Ren and Horo are planning on going out."

"We heard," Lyserg and Yoh said at the same time.

Hao pouted. "But they're _not_. All because Ren's being such a douche." Hao sighed.

More silence as Yoh continued typing the play version of the novel, breaking the silence here and there to ask verification questions. Otherwise, he was pretty much mute toward Lyserg.

"I heard about the Anna incident," Hao said quietly.

"Let's not talk about it," Yoh said, from the desk. Lyserg looked ashamed. Hao looked at the both of them. Hitting the goddamn wall, weren't they? Christ.

"I need to use the facilities," Hao announced, as if they wanted to know. "Behave yourselves." Crossing the room quickly, Hao left the room and closed the door behind him, despite the rule that Yoh had laid out: Don't close the door.

Pausing for a moment to gather his thoughts, Yoh leaned back and glanced at Lyserg, who was looking at him with anxiety. Yoh looked away at the ceiling. Those weird cracks actually looked like a bear today.

"I'm sorry."

Yoh didn't turn.

"I'm really sorry."

"You should be saying that to Anna."

Lyserg shrank back, as if he had been poked. "Please don't be mad at me, Yoh…"

"I'm not sure if I'm exactly _mad_…"

"Please…I'm really…" Lyserg's voice cracked. "I just wanted…"

"What?" The bear looked quite friendly, actually.

"I wanted us to…" Lyserg seemed unable to continue. "I really thought Anna did like you, Yoh…"

"Why didn't you make sure before spreading it all over the place?"

"Because…because I wanted to know how you would react…" Yoh finally turned to face Lyserg, who was staring at the floor. Although his face was turned away, Yoh noticed the boy's eyes were shining. "I wanted to know how you felt…" Lyserg paused to wipe away the tears. "It was stupid…I'm sorry…I'm really sorry…" Lyserg's lip quivered as he tried to hold it back. "I already said sorry to Anna…"

"_Um, hey, Anna…"_

_Anna turned in the hallway and her eyes hardened. "Yes?" she asked testily._

"_About this morning…" Lyserg turned away but thought better of it and turned back to look Anna in the eyes. "I'm sorry about what I've been saying about you. I thought…but I guess it wasn't true. I'll tell everyone I was wrong."_

_Anna looked at him with uncovered surprise. "You'd do that?"_

"_Yeah. I've done it before. I've been…wrong before." Lyserg's gaze dropped to the ground. "It was unfair to point fingers at you."_

_Anna stared at him. "Well…I accept your apology," she said curtly. "But you might want to do a little something about Yoh." Giving him a tight smile, she turned and walked down the hallway to class. _

"I told everyone I was wrong about Anna," Lyserg continued in a small voice. "I know you're still mad at me, but I'm really, really, _really_ sorry…"

"Alright, alright…" Lyserg looked up and realized Yoh had walked over to him. Crouching to get at least eye level with Lyserg, who was sitting on the bed, Yoh reached forward and gently rubbed the tears away with his thumb. "I saw you talking to everyone today," Yoh said quietly, letting his hand rest on Lyserg's cheek. "I'm glad you said sorry to Anna."

"Yoh…" Lyserg hastily tried to wipe his eyes with his sleeve, but Yoh took hold of his wrist. "Don't rub your eyes; they'll get red." Using his own sleeve, Yoh gently wiped Lyserg's eyes until they were dry.

"You're…not mad at me anymore?" Lyserg asked timidly. Yoh looked into the other's pleading eyes and sighed. "I _guess_ not…" Before he could say anything else, he was pulled into a suffocating hug. "Lyserg?"

Lyserg shook his head, still keeping a firm grip around Yoh's neck. "I'm really sorry for troubling you, Yoh…"

The doorknob to the room turned and the two leapt away from each other. Hao entered, looking amused. "Were we doing something…productive?" he asked, a smirk tugging at the sides of his mouth.

"Oh, yeah, we were discussing how to write the ending," Yoh said quickly. "You know…cause the ending's a bit unclear in the manuscript."

"And what would this ending be like?" Hao asked, still on the subject.

"Duke dies," Yoh said, giving his older brother a 'drop it' look. Hao's smirk fully appeared on his face.

"Great," he chuckled. "I'll go tell Jean that, shall I?" He walked over to his bed, giving his brother a pat on the back. "Good job," he murmured so only Yoh could hear him.

Yoh nodded.

--

Horo trudged in the door. Today he was stuck doing drive through. He hated drive through. Stupid people who couldn't make up their minds.

"Um…well, I guess I'll have a burger…how many calories is that?"

"I don't know, ma'am."

"You don't know? You work here…hmm…maybe I'll also have a milkshake…no, scratch that…do you have Coke?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"What kind?"

"Coke kind, ma'am."

"Be more respectful, young man, or I'll report you."

"Yes, ma'am." Horo massaged his temples.

"Hmm…how many fries comes with the small fry?"

"I don't know, why don't I go count?" Horo said sarcastically. He rolled his eyes. How many fries fell into the container was how many she got!

"Okay, so how many?" the lady asked, taking Horo's silence as if he had actually went to count.

"Welcome back, onii-chan!" Pirka poked her head out of her room. "MOM, he's home!"

"Good!" Kimi appeared at the living room. Pirka came out of her room. "Come into the living room, you two."

"She's home early," Horo muttered, dropping his bookbag near the shoes.

"I know. She seems really happy," Pirka murmured back. "She wouldn't let Tamao come over today…something about wanting to talk to us."

The two entered the living room, where Kimi was standing in front of the couch. "Sit down, you two."

They did. Kimi clapped her hands together with a huge grin. "Guys, we're going to Japan!"

--

Ren nibbled on the plastic fork in his mouth. Yeah, his parents were filthy rich and everything, but they were frugal in a way that for a snack, he had to settle for tv dinners and microwavable food. Stupid gourmet chef only came in the mornings and in the evenings. He waited as the microwave heated up some plastic-made-from-powder food.

"Do you two want anything?" he called from around the fork. There was a silence before Jun called out breathlessly, "We're good!"

Makeout day, apparently.

Beep. Ren grumbled as he reached for his phone. It couldn't have been the microwave, couldn't it? One more minute…Ren glared at it as he checked the text that just came in.

_Wanna hang out_?

Before he could even text anything back, his phone vibrated with a tune of _Pain…without love…pain, can't get enough…_

"Hello?" Ren pressed the Iphone against his cheek as he reached for the now beeping microwave. Horo or no Horo, food was more important to him right now.

"Hey, Ren." The voice sounded dull. "Wanna hang out?"

"Yes." Ren pinned the phone against his shoulder as he mixed around the…what was it exactly?...food in the box. "What's up?"

"My mom made her decision."

Ren stopped. For Horo to have called like this, it meant…

"We're going to Japan."

--

"WHAT?" screeched Pirka, so that Horo and Kimi had to cover their ears to avoid deafness. "Mom, no! How could you…you lied!" She pointed an accusing finger at her mother. "You didn't actually go to California…you lied!"

Kimi nodded, smiling sheepishly.

"You were at a travel agency and let them brainwash you!"

A bit off target. Pirka wasn't exactly the sharpest tack in the box.

"You were in Japan," Horo corrected. Kimi nodded and Pirka sputtered.

"We are not going, are we, Horo? I'm chaining myself here if that's what it takes!"

"Mom…I thought…" Horo shook his head. "If that's what mom wants, we're going to have to accept it. We already spoke our opinion."

Kimi looked at him. "I'm surprised you're not arguing like Pirka."

"Yeah, well…" Horo shrugged. "There's nothing we can do about it, right? I don't make enough to support me and Pirka together, so we can't really stay. And staying with a friend only bothers the friend. Plus, you going by yourself makes no sense and we _do_ need a mother…"

"Do you have your affairs in order or something?"

"Your _affairs_?" Pirka shouted, rounding on her brother. "You're a pimp?"

"No, not that meaning!" Horo rolled his eyes. His sister could be so stupid sometimes. "But in a way…I kind of do."

Kimi looked at him sadly. "We're leaving after your last SAT."

Horo nodded. Pirka stared at her brother with disbelief. "Onii-chan, you never give up! Why did you do that? Stop!" She grabbed her brother's shoulder and shook it, but was flung off by Horo. "Grow up, Pirka. We don't have a choice." Without looking at his sister or mother, Horo grabbed his bookbag and went into his room.

"Onii-chan…" Pirka said softly. Kimi shook her head.

"Your stupid air headed brother wouldn't let me finish. Well, I guess if he doesn't want to hear it, I'll just tell you." Kimi turned to her daughter and bent down to whisper the last part of her announcement. Pirka's eyes grew wide. "Really, mom?"

"Yeah. So we'll…" But Pirka didn't let her mother finish.

"Oh, mom, that's great! I have to tell Tamao!" Pirka laughed as she ran to her room. Kimi tried again. Walking over to Horo's room, Kimi looked at her son, who was lying, back facing her, on the bed.

"Horo…"

"Pirka seems happy about things," Horo said dryly. "What did you tell her…that she's getting a bigger room or something?"

"Well…yeah…soon." Kimi smiled sadly. "You didn't let me finish, Horo."

"Whatever you have to say, I don't want to hear it."

"Pirka was happy about it…"

"Whatever, mom! I don't care if I'm getting a new room! Or whatever you told her!"

"Horo…" Kimi took a deep breath. "If you just listen to me, you'll know that we're…"

"Sorry, mom. I don't want to hear it." Horo crossed the room with one swift motion and closed the door in her face.

"Sorry," he repeated, his voice muffled behind the door.

Kids. Kimi rolled her eyes. Pirka poked her head out of the door, one hand over the speaker part of her phone. "Thanks, mom," she said, grinning. She glanced at Horo's closed door. "He doesn't…?"

"Nope." Kimi smiled. "And we're not going to tell him. He'll find out later anyway."

Horo thumbed out Ren's number on his phone. Putting it to his ear, Horo heard two rings before Ren's voice came through the ear. "Hello?"

"Wanna hang out?"

"Yes."

--

"You're going for sure?"

"Yeah."

Ren had come to pick Horo up and the two, once they were on the road, were unsure of where to go. So they parked in the closest place they had come upon…which happened to be that same park where Horo had told Ren he was going in the first place. It was eight at night so the park was pretty much deserted. Horo, being the carefree (sometimes childish, he admitted) person he was, headed straight for the playground and climbed to the top of the jungle gym. Ren rolled his eyes, but Horo looked happy for the first time that night so he let it slide.

"When are you going?" Ren asked, poking a swing before giving up and sitting in it.

"After SATs," Horo said aimlessly. Ren turned to him. "So you're not staying for…"

"I don't think so."

Ren sighed as the swing creaked its way back and forth. Or maybe it was just the wind.

"Let's go up there."

Ren followed Horo's finger to the top of the tower. There was a flat part on the roof where they could watch the stars. Although…

"How are we supposed to get up there?" Ren asked, giving Horo a 'you're _so_ stupid' look. "Kids aren't supposed to climb up there."

"Yeah, and we're not _supposed_ to be out this late. The stupid city curfew for those under eighteen, remember? Just shut up and see if you're man enough to get up there."

Ren smirked. "Is that a challenge?"

"Yeah." Horo returned the sneer and leapt off the jungle gym. After a long period of scuffling and some well aimed punches, Ren managed to clamor onto the roof with not so much a scratch. He was already sitting there staring up at the sky when Horo wheezed his way up. "Damn, Ren."

Ren laughed. "You're weak." Horo crawled up to Ren and collapsed next to him.

"Having fun?" Horo asked, rolling onto his back so he could see the stars better.

"Kind of." Ren stared up at the stars before turning back to Horo. In the dark, it was a bit hard to see Ren's face, despite the lit streetlamps nearby. "I think I do."

"Think you do what?"

"You know!" Ren slapped Horo on the arm and the latter winced.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Horo grumbled. "Don't need to _hit_ me."

"I think I do," Ren repeated. "Like you, I mean." This was said so emotionlessly that Horo almost asked him to repeat it.

"You…like me?"

"Isn't that what I said?" Ren sounded a little mad. "Don't make me repeat it."

"Like…like-like me?"

"Yes! I thought it was clear when I said…" Ren was cut off as Horo leaned forward kissed him, a quick fast peck that lasted only a second. Even though it had been fast, Ren felt his face flush. "What was that for?"

Horo looked surprised. "Isn't that what I'm supposed to do when you say things like that?"

"I…I don't know!" Ren, feeling flustered, did the most mechanical thing that came to him. He socked Horo on the arm again.

"Ouch! Jesus Ren, no need to get all physical!" Horo chuckled. "You always get touchy when you talk about things like that."

"I am _not_ touchy!"

"Yeah you are." Horo chuckled again. "It's what makes you so cute."

"Masochist," Ren muttered and stiffened when Horo suddenly scooted closer and draped an arm across his shoulders. It was a little awkward, since Ren was so small, so it looked like Horo was almost on top of the smaller boy. "What are you doing?"

"What?" Horo felt Ren wrestle his arm off him. "Oh, I get it. You're _touchy_."

"No I'm not! I just like my personal space!"

"Well, then I think you'll enjoy it when I'm in Japan." Even in the dark, Horo saw Ren's horrified look. "I didn't mean it like that…"

"Oh, yeah, like that's going to justify me wanting your hands on my body." Ren smirked as he noticed Horo squirm. "Get your head out of the gutter."

"It's not in the gutter," Horo protested. "Well, since you're not a very physical kind of person…" Horo missed Ren's amused look. "…then how slow should I take it?"

"Oh, I don't know…" Ren scooted as close as Horo as he dared, leaning his head against Horo's shoulder in a rather feminine flirting kind of way. "How's your self control?"

"Augh…" Ren chuckled as Horo slapped his palm against his forehead. As Horo turned to Ren, the latter surprised him by landing a slow kiss on his cheek.

"Whoa, Ren, I wouldn't consider you the romantic type."

"What are you talking about?" Ren grabbed a handful of woodchips (apparently, kids liked throwing woodchips at their friends in the tower) on the roof and pelted Horo with them. "If you consider this romantic, then Lyserg and Yoh would be too romantic to function."

"You're right. That kind of relationship is unhealthy." Horo brushed woodchips from his hair. "How do you think they are lately? You know Lyserg and Hao broke up, right?"

"Eh, Lyserg told me. Why are we talking about them anyway?" Ren gave Horo a look.

"I don't know. You don't want a touchy-feely romantic thing, so the opposite is a casual open relationship, right?"

"Casual? Open?" Ren's eyes narrowed. "If you find someone else in Japan, so help me God, I will come and slit your throat."

"Wow, Ren's being serious about this!" Horo laughed. "It's still a bit surreal for me."

"Yeah, because I'm way too good for you."

"Oh shut up."

Tobecontinued…

Note: The plot thickens…like fudge, like usual. I apologize again for not updating as quickly. I've been busy lately and after all that, I haven't been able to finish the last chapter. So I've been trying to put off updating until I can actually finish that. Horo's…moving! I know some will be outraged (theflyinggazebbo, but I'm not naming any names)…after all, horo and ren are finally starting to get on track! But don't flame me yet until you've read the ending! Also, Ren's ringtone is Pain by Three Days Grace if any were wondering. Review you awesome readers, because I'm planning on doing a shoutout to all my usual readers at the end, and I don't know…maybe if you want your name to be on the list and something special (throws sparkly glitter) to happen…maybe you'll review…maybe…because I can tell with my hits that there are more than what…five or six people who actually care about my developments (unless they read them about a million times each)…so…I'm just saying…just drop a hello, I've read up to now or something…

Also: if any of you have read lord of the flies or had to read it or whatever…please go read the two stories I have up. Because although I've been getting hits and reviews, they are scant compared to the ones I've got here. Even if you have no idea what I'm talking about, drop something about my writing or something. These were written much more recently than these chapters.

I'll stop ranting. Hopefully I'll update soon!


	12. Mix Tape

I've Got All this Ringing in My Ears and None on my Fingers

**Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics. If any of these songs were mine, I wouldn't be writing fanfics.**

Background music: Mix Tape – Jack's Mannequin

Chapter 12 – Mix Tape

"Everyone, you are free to go once you turn in your plays!" Chloe smiled a sunny grin at her class. "I know you have SATs tomorrow, so you can spend the rest of the English block to study!"

There was a mass of motion when she was finished. Hao looked bored as Manta quickly stapled a huge stack of papers together. Looks like Manta hasn't been getting much sleep lately.

Lyserg swung his carrier bag over his shoulder as Yoh got up next to him. They had finished the rewritten version of his mother's novel over the weekend, with Hao as the parental figure again. They hadn't had time to talk by themselves since. Not that Lyserg was sure what to actually say to Yoh. They had left things quite in the air.

The two of them made their way to the front of the room as everyone started getting their things ready. Manta scurried off with a frenzy after he threw the papers onto Chloe's desk. Hao was lingering behind, waiting for his brother and Lyserg. The classroom was already starting to clear out as Yoh handed Chloe the stack known as their play: Pieces of Childhood: Rewritten.

"Rewritten?" Chloe said, raising her eyebrows. Her dark pink manicured nails fluttered across the title page. "Whose work did you base this off?"

"My mother's."

Chloe looked at Lyserg. "What makes you two sure that I won't have you in for plagiarism?"

"It hasn't been published yet," Lyserg said quietly. "And we have a note from my mother explaining that it's okay." Chloe flipped the page and saw a handwritten note from Jean Diethyl. Lyserg bit his lip. His mother had been more than happy to write it out for them after reading the play.

"Why would you two choose to do a love story for your play?" Chloe asked interestedly. "Most of the boys did stuff about sports or such…" She glanced at Manta's which seemed to be about human psychology and war. "But yours is different…"

Yoh glanced at Lyserg, who looked down. "It's…based off…people we know."

"People we know?" Chloe scanned the first page. She was quiet for a moment before she looked up again, her dark auburn eyes understanding. "Okay. Good job, boys. Good luck on your SATs." And just like that, the play was put together with the other 'works of art' on her desk.

Sighing with relief, Yoh turned and Hao was just there. "Let's get out of here," Hao smirked, nodding toward Chloe, who smiled at him. As the three appeared in the hall, Horo and Ren walked up to them, apparently talking to each other during their study hall. Horo had his arm by his side, but as they walked up to the three, Horo's arm suddenly snaked up around Ren's shoulders.

"P…D…A!" With the last letter of the abbreviation, Ren aimed an uppercut straight into Horo's jaw. As Horo huddled on the floor in a pile of pain, Ren rubbed his knuckles and turned to the Asakuras and Lyserg. "So, why are you out so early?"

"Free period," Yoh muttered, looking at Horo. "You know, I was thinking that once you two were actually…you know…going out…that you'd be a lot nicer toward him…"

"You thought wrong," Ren said, continuing his walk down the hall. "Just because we can actually make out without looking weird doesn't mean he deserves special treatment."

Lyserg's mouth twisted into a small smile. He had been waiting for Ren to finally return Horo's feelings. Although in such a brutal way was a bit extreme, but beggars can't be choosers. Turning away to follow Ren, Lyserg reverted back to the gossip grapevine he had been before…the incident. "Have you guys actually made out yet?" he asked, dogging Ren on the subject.

"I don't think you deserve to know," Ren said curtly, to which Lyserg gave him his signature puppy eyes. "And those don't work on anyone but Yoh."

Ren smiled contently as he watched Lyserg turn a shade of red. "How is _that_ going?"

"Oh…well…" Lyserg avoided looking Ren in the eyes. "It's how it's always been…I guess…"

"Reeeally?" Ren raised his eyebrows and suddenly reached into Lyserg's bag.

"Hey!"

"This is how it's always been?" Ren questioned, pulling out a green stuffed animal's arm. "How long have you been carrying this?"

"N-not long!" Lyserg pouted, wrestling it from Ren's grasp. Ren observed to probably a few bystander's eyes that this could have been considered 'cute'. But to him, it was just annoying.

"You should just tell him, Lyserg," Ren suggested. Personally, he hadn't wanted to _know_ the gory details about Lyserg and Yoh's relationship, but Lyserg had been so desperate to tell someone, that Ren had decided to give in and listen. If he had known about Lyserg's insecurities, though, he wouldn't have given a damn. But the greenette's demeanor had radiated so much confidence and energy that this side has been unexpected.

"Maybe…" Lyserg kept a firm hand on his bag in case Ren decided to search it again, but Ren made no such movements. "Yoh would understand."

"Yeah…but I shouldn't bother him before the SATs," Lyserg mumbled. "He has enough to worry about…besides, what if he doesn't…"

"He'll forgive you. You know him."

"Yeah…but I hurt him…" Lyserg suddenly looked so emo Ren felt like shaking him.

"Snap out of it! In comparison, I have more to worry about than you!"

Lyserg looked up, his wide eyes full of wonder. "What are you talking about? You and Horo seem pretty stable to me."

"Augh." Ren shook his head and turned into the computer lab. "Never mind. Besides I still have a ton to do about the roadtrip."

"Why don't you ask Horo to help you?"

"I have, believe me." Lyserg gave him a little smile before Ren turned away. _Not like it would matter much since he's not going._

--

Choco looked around on the roof. Technically he wasn't supposed to be here…but he had a double free period, so…sliding on the sunglasses, Choco looked forward to see his parents standing in front of him.

"Shouldn't you be studying?" his mother suggested, looking a bit disapproving.

"How are they?" Choco asked, getting straight to business.

His mom and dad exchanged looks. "Shouldn't you know this better than we would?"

"I don't know! You're spirits! You should be able to read thoughts and such!"

"No, I'm sorry we don't have that kind of power," his father shrugged. "You're really worried about this."

"Of course I am! The roadtrip's in a few weeks and we don't need this MOOD hanging over our heads! Ren and Horo are doing fine, I guess, but they just feel a bit…I don't know. Hao seems peachy, but since when he is not? And Yoh and Lyserg…I don't even know what else to do with them!"

Choco took a breath.

"This is distracting them from their SATs!"

His mother looked at his father again. "Chocolove, honey…you're generous by caring for your friends, but you should focus on your own stuff first…"

"You don't understand!" Choco turned away for the first time he had talked to them. "I crack jokes and stay out of the way to see if the mood would improve, but it's just gotten worse!"

There was a silence and Choco almost thought that they had left him, but he felt a soft wind on his shoulder and turned to see his mother rest her hand on it. "Honey…I understand what you're feeling. I mean…these _are_ your first friends…"

Choco nodded.

"You always lived in danger in New York so you didn't make many friends. But I understand how you're so protective of the ones you have now. But Choco…things like these have strange ways of actually working out in the end. You tried your best, didn't you? Sometimes things just have to be let alone to see how they work out. You did push Lyserg to reconsider his feelings, didn't you? And you have Yoh encouragement. There's not much you can do. You can't control what they do."

Choco stared at the ground.

"I think you'll find an ally about this issue in Hao."

Choco looked up. "Hao? He doesn't care."

"He doesn't?" His mother looked at him. "If he didn't care, then why did he break up with Lyserg?"

Choco slowly nodded.

"Everything's going to be just fine, honey. You should be proud of yourself. You're surviving the toughest year of high school."

Choco nodded, more forceful this time. "Yeah…" he said slowly. His mother smiled.

"We're proud of you, son," his father nodded. "Good luck tomorrow."

"Right." His mother gave him an affectionate squeeze on his shoulder, which felt like his shoulder had been doused in ice water. He gave them an encouraging grin before sliding the shades off his face. The sun hit his face like a hammer and he fake-fell, calling out like he had been scalded.

"You! Student! Get off the roof or I call Silva!" Choco jumped as the janitor, Tokagero, the green hued broken English speaking man called from the door. Rumor had it that he was half lizard, skulking all over the place, cleaning up messes with random patches of warts. He was also rumored to smoke pot with Ryu…but that was just a rumor. He brandished his mop as if it were a sword and Choco dashed down the stairs.

--

"Hao!"

Hao turned, his long hair turning on the spot. For a second, Choco wondered if it was Hao who turned around…was Hao really that dramatic when he turned? Like on a catwalk…whatever! "Yeah, what?"

Choco ran up to Hao. "Do you have a second?"

"Gallons. Why?"

Choco looked at Hao. He hadn't really asked Hao serious questions before. "Um…about the Lyserg/Yoh thing…"

Hao laughed. "Oh, that. Don't sweat about it. It's over."

Choco frowned. "Over? Like they're back together?"

"As good as." Hao shrugged, an evil grin on his face. "They're going to get back together after the SATs."

"How do you know this?"

"I don't. But it's a feeling." Hao smirked. "I'm usually not wrong about things like these. Why? Are you in the business of matchmaking?"

"I don't intend on making little wooden sticks with a flammable surface on one end," Choco recited.

"Never mind," Hao said, walking away. "You're useless."

"Backwards that's 'sselesu'!"

Hao turned with malice. "If you're trying to be Japanese, drop it. You're being racist."

"_I'm_ being racist?" Choco almost laughed as he tried to catch up to Hao. "Damn, you know my crowd's been a hate crime victim for years and centuries!"

"Your point being?"

"At the end of the needle!" Choco held out a silver shiny needle.

Choco howled as he was almost impaled by a tiny sharp metal thing. Not that he knew needles could hurt that much.

--

"Where _is_ Hao?" Yoh asked, frowning at the door as if it was the reason why Hao was late. Lyserg shrugged, standing a few feet away.

"Do you want to start heading back?" Yoh asked, turning to Lyserg. The greenette seemed flustered for an answer and shrugged.

"Augh, Hao you always cause me problems." Yoh turned to the gates. "Let's go. He can walk home by himself."

Unbeknownst to them, Hao was watching them from the library window, along with Choco, who kept making weird jokes. Hao gripped the needle he had stolen tighter…Choco asked for it…

"Silence in the library," Sati murmured, floating past them as Hao attempted assault.

"And if you'll shush, you'll realize this is a good thing!" Hao hissed, stabbing Choco one last time in the gut.

"How?" Choco asked blankly.

"They're walking home together…alone."

"Oh!" Hao rolled his eyes. It was his fault on having such a dim tagalong.

Yoh sneezed. Where did that come from? Lyserg looked at him worriedly and opened his mouth to say something but thought better of it.

"Lyserg."

"Hmm?" Lyserg cocked his head toward Yoh, his eyes still focused on the white sidewalk.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did, but go ahead…" Lyserg braced himself for anything.

"Can you tell me…" Yoh paused. "Can you tell me why you broke up with me? I mean, I'm not sure if I've got this right…I think I do but I'm not sure…but I don't think you feel comfortable with me as just 'friends'…what I'm trying to say is…I think we both want to get back together but I want to know why you broke up with me in the first place."

Lyserg gripped his sleeve. Anything but that question. "Um…" _Go ahead and tell him. He'll understand_. "Why…why don't I tell you after the SATs?" It was a compromise. And maybe Yoh would have forgotten afterward. "It'll be after all the fuss is over…"

"Okay." Yoh nodded. "That's fine with me."

Lyserg glanced over at Yoh. "You really…" He faltered as Yoh turned to him. "You really want us to get back together?"

"Yes. I really like you, Lyserg. I've wanted this ever since you broke up with me."

Lyserg turned back to the sidewalk.

The two continued down the street in silence. On one part of the way home, the shrubbery near the sidewalk stuck out a bit, so Lyserg swerved by stepping closer to Yoh. After the leaves had cleared, Lyserg still didn't move away. Their fingers teased each other with their closeness, daring the other to take hold. Taking a silent breath, Yoh kept his gaze ahead and enveloped the smaller's hand with his own, gripping the sleeve which was pulled over most of Lyserg's hand. Lyserg jumped, surprised at Yoh's forwardness.

"Yoh…"

Yoh cleared his throat. "Um…I can let go if you don't want…"

"Oh, no, it's okay." Lyserg smiled to himself. Maybe he didn't have to tell Yoh _that_, but at least the other boy _knew_ of his still existent feelings. Giving Yoh's hand a small squeeze, Lyserg felt a blush cross his face. "You don't have to let go."

--

Ren circled Horo with a smirk. "Try it, I dare you."

"I will. You're so short, it'll be so easy it should be wrong." Horo returned the smirk with a sudden movement. Swerving to the right, Horo darted past Ren and up to the basket for an easy lay up. "You suck Ren." Horo let the basketball bounce away, an orange orb bouncing with a loud spring down the court.

"I hate you," Ren spat, running after the ball. When he came back up to Horo, dribbling the ball, he frowned. "Remind me why we're here."

"Because you wanted to hang out and I decided that we should do something physical before the SATs to get our brains working. It helps us focus."

Ren turned to the basketball and attempted a free throw, causing the ball to bounce off the rim. "Outlet," Horo called, and caught the ball, throwing a three pointer into the hoop.

"That's not fair. You're on the team. I don't play basketball, you know that. I'm a soccer kind of person." Ren gave the ball, which rolled toward him, a kick.

"Don't do that! You'll hurt the ball! Coach told us never to kick the ball!"

"Balls are for kicking," Ren said, and the two of them burst out laughing.

"Ah, screw it." Ren picked up the ball and threw it, and miraculously, it fell into the hoop with a satisfying swish. The two of them left the ball bouncing on the court as they found it as they left the basketball area at the local park. Surprisingly, no one was here; probably every single kid in the area had finals to study for.

"So what do you wanna do now?" Horo asked.

"I don't know." Ren kicked a rock near his feet. "Let's just go loiter around somewhere."

"Hmm." The two walked back to the parking lot. "You're going to school tomorrow?"

Ren looked up at the sky. "I don't know…why?"

"Well, I don't know…I mean, if you're not taking the SATs, then you kinda have the whole day off."

"But I can see you off tomorrow if I come?" Ren looked back down to Horo, who suddenly looked embarrassed.

"That's what I'd like," he mumbled, scratching his chin.

There was a silence broken only by the sounds of cars and birds and random children screaming. "I'll come."

"What?" Horo turned, hearing Ren speak, but it was too faint to be heard by human ears.

"I said I'll come to school tomorrow." Ren's face was flushed, embarrassed to be confessing such a thing. "Okay?"

Horo grinned. "That would be great." He contemplated something for a second. "Are we out of the forbidden PDA range yet?"

Ren glared at him. "Everywhere is included in the PDA range…" Before he could continue, however, Horo stopped, spun him around and kissed him, his hands keeping Ren's head from turning away. Ren struggled for a second before giving up and letting Horo kiss him. They broke away and Ren looked close to beating the shit out of Horo. "We're in public!" he shot. "And in case you didn't notice, not a lot of people are so accepting of two dudes making out in a public park. And there are little kids around you can scar!"

"So?" Horo looked around. "I don't see anyone, and we're not under attack right now, so we're fine."

"That doesn't justify anything!"

"Oh shut up. You liked it, admit it." Horo grinned again and continued walking to the car. Ren fumed for a moment, knowing Horo was right, he liked it when Horo showed his affections because he himself felt unable to do so. If it wasn't for Horo randomly jumping him, nothing would be happening. But he wasn't going to let Horo know that. Taking his keys from his pockets, Ren put three in-between his fingers and ran at Horo and socked him one in the back.

"Holy shit!" Horo fell forward and rubbed his back. "Ren, what the _fuck_?"

"That's what you get." Ren chuckled as Horo glared at them, and as they neared Ren's car, Horo suddenly shot forward, grabbing Ren's wrist and shoving him into the backseat. Before Ren could say anything else, Horo climbed in after him and shut the door. "Two can play at that," Horo smirked, looking very Hao-like at the moment that it actually scared Ren. "Don't worry…the windows are tinted so no one can watch us…" With another triumphant smirk, he leaned forward and pinned Ren against the seat as he kissed him.

"Fuck, Horo, you can't do that! It's unfair, you're bigger than me…" Ren bit his lip to keep from crying out as Horo moved from his mouth to his neck. "Horo!"

Horo's hand moved down to Ren's hip, causing the younger boy to shiver. What was Horo trying to do? Not much, it appeared, as Horo fished the keys from Ren's pocket and threw them to the front. "You're not going to assault me as I attempt to rape you."

"Don't rape me!"

"Then you gotta wanna do it too."

"No!" Ren's protests were cut off as Horo caught his lips again. Sighing in annoyance, Ren reached out and grabbed Horo's shirt, pulling him closer. "Fine," he muttered.

"Yes." Horo pulled the aqua tie loose from Ren's neck, but before anything could happen, there was a loud rapping on the door. The two broke away and stared through the dark glass. Ren groaned and pulled down the window. "_What_ is it, Maki?" he asked his former driver.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm quite fine." Ren rolled his eyes as Maki looked through the window, where Horo was waving stupidly. "Why?"

"I spotted your car as I was driving around and I didn't see you anywhere and it was shaking a bit…I was worried you were under attack or something." Maki, behind his sunglasses, looked at the two boys in the car and tried to put one and one together. "What were you two doing anyway?"

"Playing Twister," Ren said sarcastically. "Now could you leave us alone?"

"Alright, botchama…" Maki walked away, shaking his head, still confused.

"Don't call me that!" Ren sighed as he rolled the window back up. "Well…the mood's shot, isn't it?"

"Yeah…wanna make out instead?" Horo asked, looking pretty serious.

Ren turned to Horo with a look of utter somberness. "Yes."

--

Note: Yay, a faster update! Ren and Horo are finally serious! Yippee! (groans) Now I have to start work on the last chapter…review, thank you!


	13. If You Never See Me Again

Disclaimer: If I owned Shaman King I wouldn't need to write fanfics

**Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics. If any of these songs were mine, I wouldn't be writing fanfics.**

Background music: Like You'll Never See Me Again – Alicia Keys

Chapter 13 – Like You'll Never See Me Again

Lyserg settled into the testing classroom, which happened to be the library. Looking around, he noticed Yoh sitting a few rows back. At that very second, Yoh turned to face him and gave him an encouraging smile. Lyserg flushed, remembering what he'd have to tell Yoh after the testing. Wishing that the younger Asakura would forget, Lyserg turned back forward.

"Hey, Yoh." Horo slid into the closest seat near his best friend. "How's it going?"

"Great, I guess." Yoh turned to Horo, who looked rushed. "You aren't late, but you look like it."

"Yeah, I stayed up packing…"

"Packing?" Yoh gave him a weird look. Horo shook his head.

"Never mind. What's up with Lyserg?" Leaning across the aisle (easy for Horo since he was so tall), Horo glanced at Lyserg. "Did something happen?"

"No…" Yoh glanced at the back of Lyserg's head. "But he said he'd tell me why he broke up with me after the SATs."

"What?" Horo leaned back, looking incredulous. "That's great! Now you'll know!"

"Yeah." Yoh looked a bit happy himself. At that moment, Choco rushed in. "Es A Tee!" he shouted, flashing a white T-shirt. The students could be out of uniform on testing days, and Choco pointed to his shirt. "Es a Tee…get it? In an accent…Es a Tee shirt?"

No one laughed. In fact, no one seemed to notice except Horo, Yoh, and Lyserg.

"SAT?" Choco tried, but there was no applause. Sulking to his seat, Choco settled on quietly counting his pencils.

Meanwhile, Hao loitered around outside on the lawn. He had decided to wait for his brother and Lyserg to go back home after testing. Testing took about…maybe…four fivish hours…

"Ren! What is happening?" Hao smirked as he noticed Ren walking up to him. "Why are you here?"

Ren looked at him. "Why can't I be here?"

"Oh, I get it. You're cheering on Horo, aren't you?"

Ren rolled his eyes and leaned against the tree Hao seemed to be trying to burn. The two were swallowed by a comfortable silence when Ren looked up and realized there was someone else walking up to them.

"What are you two looking so suspicious here for?" Anna walked up to them, holding her cell phone. She wasn't wearing her school uniform and the two had never seen her wearing something different. Decked in dark red plaid Bermudas and a black tank top with a hood, she looked as formidable as before.

"Anna…" A slow smile crept across Hao's face. "Nice to see you…"

"I know you like what you see, but looking at you makes me sick," Anna said smoothly. "So what are you two doing here?"

"Waiting," Ren said, ignoring how Hao was standing behind him, checking Anna out. "Why are _you_ here?"

Anna shrugged. "I have nothing else to do." Scratching the grass with her camouflage Converse, Anna glared at Hao. "Keep your eyes to yourself, you perv."

Hao cocked his head, attempting to look ashamed and failing. "Hey, I'm free."

"You're _perverted_," Ren said. "Can't you control yourself?"

"If Yoh can't, why should I?" The two turned to him and Hao shrugged. "What? He wants Lyserg badly, in case you didn't notice."

"What's going on with them?" Anna asked.

Hao shrugged again. "I'm not sure anymore, but if I guess right, I think everything will be just fine." He smiled. "I'm usually right about these kinds of things."

--

To Horo, the past four hours seemed so long, but to Ren, waiting outside, it seemed like a flash. Before he even had time to take a nap, the doors to the school opened and students were starting to flow out. The eyes of jealous freshmen, skeptical sophomores, and congratulating seniors watched them from the windows around him. Yoh was walking close next to Lyserg, quietly talking to him as Lyserg looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here. Choco seemed rather carefree after the SATs, around the paranoid people around him (which included Manta) who were flipping through their notes to see if they got certain questions right. Horo seemed to make a beeline toward Ren, and before the latter could get up, Horo was right in front of him. "I'm glad you came."

"Yeah."

Hao jumped up. "Oh yeah! You chums are done!" Anna, who was sitting a safe (ten yards) distance away, stood up and walked up to them. Yoh looked surprised to see her. "Anna…what are you doing here? I didn't think you had to redo your tests…"

"Nope. I got a solid 1400 last time." Anna smiled a faint wisp of a grin. "I'm all set. How was it for you guys?"

She ignored the disbelieving gapes of Horo and Choco. "I haven't had many friends," she said slowly. "But I've decided to give this friendship crap a try. Make it worth my while."

"What do you mean?" Horo asked, still staring at her.

Anna gave him a condescending look she was famous for. "I'm your guys' friend now."

"Just like that?" Choco said.

"Why not?"

"I don't know…I thought maybe you'd like to be friends with some girls first…"

"Girls…" Anna smirked. "Those shallow little _bitches_…yeah, no thanks. I think I'll try and hang with the big crowd. And no, I'm not interested in any of you…you guys just look like a crew I could depend on and boss around…oops…" Although it didn't seem like a slip of the tongue, that she really meant to say it, Anna covered her mouth with a scheming expression. "Anyway, that's all I came to say. See you later." She turned and walked off campus along with the other liberated juniors.

"What was that?" Yoh muttered, watching her go. Hao shrugged. "She just came…she saw, she wanted, she conquered, you know, that sort of thing…"

Ren shook her head. "Didn't even ask us, did she…dear god…"

"So let's go live!" Hao clapped his hands. "You have no idea how many times I wanted to kill Ren in boredom!"

"Not something we wanted to know," Choco said, frowning.

As the six made their way to the front gates, there was a loud beeping sound and Horo looked up and recognized the big blue van that his mother owned. "Horo!" His mother waved at him with a big smile on her face. "Let's go!"

"Go?" Lyserg turned to Horo. "Where are you going?"

"You never told us you had to go somewhere after the SATs," Choco piped up. "I thought we were just going to crash at Burger Hut or something."

Horo looked down. "Yeah…there's something I've been meaning to tell you all, but…"

"Horo!" Pirka stuck her head out and paused, drinking in all the high school boys. She had known Horo's friends too long to be interested in them, but all these new faces…with a renewed smile, she waved at him. "Horo! Come on, let's go! Japan awaits!"

"Japan?" Yoh turned to Horo. "What's she talking about?"

"I'm…moving. To Japan."

There was a startled silence. "You never told us this."

"I didn't want to." Horo hung his head. "I thought it would be better this way."

There was a total downer mode until Hao pushed his way to Horo and pulled him into a chokehold. "Damn it, Horo! You just had to go screw with us one last time before you left, didn't you?" Giving Horo a hard nudgie, Hao laughed. "Don't sweat it everyone. Sometime, when we raise enough cash money, we'll buy a ticket to wherever you are and kidnap you home. We'll hold you in the livestock part of the plane as punishment, okay?"

"What?" Horo was not expecting such an optimistic look. Everyone looked surprised too.

"What?" Hao let Horo go. "Things like this happen. No point getting depressed. We're all friends, aren't we? It doesn't matter where we all are, we're all under the same sky."

"What kind of poet did you turn into after four hours?" Choco asked.

"It's something I've thought about," Hao said. "I mean, before I moved here. Before I met my utouto. My dad used to tell me all about him but I couldn't do anything about meeting him until. Things have a strange way of working out like that. Horo'll come back to us, I know it."

"Hao…" Yoh blinked. His brother could be so surprising sometimes.

"Yeah." Lyserg smiled. "You'll come back," he said confidently to Horo. "If not…then we'll just do whatever Hao said. And we'll also put you into a dog carrier."

"Yeah! Yeah!" Choco hopped into the conversation. "Into a mail sack! For the dogman!"

Everyone turned to him. "You see, a mailman is a mail carrier…so a dogman is a dog carrier!"

"Yeah…right." Yoh turned to Horo. "Don't worry about it, Horo. We're best friends, right? We'll be fine until you come back."

There was a loud beeping. "Horo," Kimi called. "We're going to be late for our flight back!"

"Coming!" Horo turned back to the group. "Thanks. A lot." Managing his usual grin, Horo knocked them each on the head with his knuckle. "Here's a little of my stupidity to keep everyone nice and Horo until I'm back."

"Still…you're going to be gone for sometime." Despite the fact that everyone was watching and the lawn was still filled with loitering students, Ren leaned up and kissed Horo on the lips for all to see. There were loud wolf whistles (one especially loud one from Hao) and random clapping, and when Ren was finished, he broke away with a huge blush on his face. "I'll see you later, Horokeu…"

Horo stared at him, still bewildered. After a moment, he broke out in a grin. "Yeah, I'll see you later, Ren." Debating for a second, Horo leaned down and quickly kissed Ren on the forehead before running out to the car. Hao let out another wolf whistle and Ren glared at him.

"Horo!" Pirka clapped as Horo slid into the van and shut the door. "Nice, nice!"

"Oh, shut it." Horo glanced back to the trunk and frowned. "Mom, why don't you have any of our stuff packed?"

"Honey, you were the only one to pack!" Kimi laughed. "Anyway, nice job out there!"

"Don't change the subject. What are you talking about? Why didn't you two pack?"

Pirka's secret smile was enough to drive him crazy. "What?"

"You'll find out soon enough," Kimi said shortly, stepping on the gas.

--

"So…"

Ren ignored the rest of the group as he made his way to his car, his face still red. "Ren, where are you going?" Choco called. "I thought we were going to hang out!"

"I want to be alone for a while!" he called back shortly, ignoring everyone who passed a comment his way. Getting into his car, he sped away without another word.

"Poor Ren," Lyserg murmured. He looked up to see Choco calling someone on his cell phone. "Choco?"

"I'm calling my aunt. If Ren and Horo aren't going, then the fun's shot with Hao trying to destroy everything in sight. I guess I'll see you guys later." He started to walk down the sidewalk to where his aunt would usually park when she came to pick him up.

Lyserg fidgeted. Ren was gone, Horo was gone, Choco was leaving. "Um, come on, Hao, let's go home."

Hao looked at him, then at Yoh over his head. Yoh gave him a look. "Um, sorry, Lyserg. Actually I have a detention with Silva today after school, after SATs. I can't come with you guys."

"You never said that before," Lyserg frowned.

"Well, I do. Sorry. Well, walking home with Yoh shouldn't be torture, hmm?" Hao turned and started walking toward the school. Lyserg realized he was going to be walking home with Yoh alone, and knew without a doubt the boy hadn't forgotten anything.

"So…should we get going?"

--

There were a few minutes of silence before Yoh broke it. "Um…how do you think you did on your SATs?"

"Okay."

There was another moment of silence. "Listen, Lyserg, I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but I really want to know to see what I did wrong…um…" Yoh paused for a moment to think about what to say without sounding redundant. "Why did you break up with me?"

"I…" Lyserg wondered if he could somehow put this off, but knew Yoh would find ways to badger him in ways that weren't annoying, but constant until he finally told him. Yoh didn't give up in ways like this. Taking a breath, Lyserg stared at the ground. "It was…at Valentine's Day…"

Yoh watched him for a moment. "Was it about…me saying I love you?"

"Yes."

"And you don't feel the same way?"

"It's not that, it's just…" Yoh let Lyserg take control of the conversation and waited patiently for the boy to continue. Lyserg was so consumed in his thoughts that he barely noticed what he was doing and without warning, Yoh had called something, he didn't hear what, and felt pulled back. Looking up, Lyserg realized he had almost walked straight into the road and the car that drove by beeped him and called something incomprehensible but probably rude at him.

Yoh had used enough force to pull Lyserg back onto the sidewalk, enough to save him from getting run enough but not hard enough to knock him off his feet. It had been a contained pull, but Lyserg had been so frantic he turned and collapsed on Yoh, knocking them both onto the grass.

"Lyserg…"

"I do love you, Yoh, I do! It's just when you said that, you were caught up in the moment and I was afraid you really didn't mean it! I…I used to say that all the time too even if I didn't mean it and I was afraid that you were just saying it because it was right to say but you didn't really mean it…" Lyserg had thrown his arms around Yoh's neck as if the Asakura would somehow disappear and if he didn't hold on tight enough, he'd lose him. Yoh had managed to sit up as he felt Lyserg bury his head in his shoulder.

"And then it occurred to me that maybe, maybe you did mean it. But then I wondered if you'd always feel that way. A lot of people say that, and they really mean it too. But then after some time, they fall out of love with that person and I was afraid…I was afraid that later you wouldn't feel the same way. And I was really scared if that happened because I…I…"

There was a strained silence until Yoh realized Lyserg was crying. Pulling him out of public traffic, Yoh led him to a more secluded part of the neighborhood. He let Lyserg cry it out until he was ready.

"That's why I broke up with you," Lyserg said quietly when he could manage words. "I was trying to save us from later…I was scared that there would be a time when you wouldn't love me, and I didn't want that to happen because I do. I love you, Yoh, and I think I'll love you forever. I mean that, truly…" He tensed as he felt Yoh wrap his arms around him.

"Lyserg, why didn't you tell me this?" Yoh sighed. "First of all, I would never, ever say something that serious without really meaning it. You know I never say anything unless I'm completely sure of it.

"I've never told anyone outside of my family that I love them, Lyserg. I thought about it for a long time. I realized it did for a long time but I was thinking about if I should tell you. It's something I'm not used to saying and when I do say it, I really mean it. I thought about if I would mean it for the rest of my life and…"

Yoh cupped Lyserg's face with his hands and gently tilted the boy's head up to meet his eyes. They were so pretty when they were wet but Yoh regretted it was because of him that they were that way. "I decided I did mean it for the rest of our lives. I'll say it again; I love you Lyserg, and whatever happens, we'll make it work out."

"Yoh…" Lyserg's voice trailed off as Yoh leaned forward and kissed the tears from his eyes.

"Don't cry." Yoh traced a trail of kisses down to Lyserg's neck, something he knew comforted the boy when they were still together. Lyserg moaned quietly and cocked his head to one side to let Yoh have more access to his neck. Bringing their heads together, Yoh knocked his forehead gently against Lyserg's. "Stop crying, it's going to be fine."

"Yeah…" Lyserg smiled gently. Yoh smiled back and captured Lyserg's lips with his own. After a moment, Lyserg sighed and broke it off, leaning against Yoh's chest, tired from both continuous testing and this. After a while, Yoh noticed Lyserg's breathing had become slower and knew the younger boy had fallen asleep.

"Yoh, I found you!" Hao appeared out of nowhere and pushed his way through the shrubbery to where they were. He looked at Lyserg, in Yoh's arms, back to Yoh, who motioned his brother to be quiet. Hao grinned and took a seat next to Yoh.

"So…you guys are back on?"

Yoh nodded and couldn't help a smile breaking out on his face.

"I knew it." Hao nodded. "I knew it."

--

Horo pressed his forehead against the plane window. Ah…clouds. So white and fluffy. Like cotton candy. He could use some cotton candy.

"Onii-chan." The sing-songy tone of Pirka's voice seemed to have been replaced with seriousness. "Onii-chan."

"Yeah?" Horo turned to Pirka, who was sitting next to him. He looked to the seat past her. "Where's mom?"

"Bathroom."

"Oh. What is it?"

Pirka searched her brother's face. "Don't be sad, onii-chan. We'll be back in America before you know it."

Horo stared at her. "What aren't you telling me?"

Pirka grinned. "Well, you didn't want to hear it, so I'm not gonna say it. Mom told me so."

"Ag, mom." Horo rolled his eyes. She had been teasing him about Ren ever since the plane took out. Pirka had been too, but at the moment she seemed to have forgotten…

"And when you're back in America, you and Ren can wrap up your makeout session."

"Let it go, Pirka!"

--

_Angel didn't know what to do now. She ruffled her hair and remembered how Leif used to do the same whenever they had woken up together. Leif…oh Leif, where are you now? Angel had stopped going to Leif's loft in so long that she had forgotten where he had lived. They had grown up together but when had they been so separated that she didn't know where he was? Middle school together…high school together…college had been different but they still kept in touch. And then after they graduated, they met up again and began a short life together. _

_Now? Angel groaned as she buried her face in her arms. The last few weeks, months, actually now, had been torture. Whenever she had seen Leif, all those memories came back to her, pieces of her childhood together with him. Now she knew for sure she missed him…did he miss her back? She hadn't spoken to him in weeks…_

_Duke had been a worthy distraction. The last few weeks had been awesome. Duke was her type, but Leif…Leif was always there in the back of her mind when she was alone. Because of that, Duke was now gone. Gone. Well, still across the hallway, but gone from her life. She didn't really regret it, really…he understood her unspoken unsevered connection to Leif and let her go gently. _

_Angel reached for her cell phone but let it fall onto the sheets. What could her mother tell her now? Nothing she didn't already know… 'Go find Leif and apologize'… 'Make it all better'…but could she do that so soon? _

_She knew this at the bottom her heart: since the beginning, she knew she had latched on Leif. No matter what happened, she would always go back to him. Maybe they would go to different ends of the earth, but somehow, someway, they would always find their way back to each other. Life had a weird way of working out like that. _

_The sun was just starting to poke through the horizon. Oh, that beautiful sunrise! Angel smiled to herself as she brushed her golden hair out of her eyes. One time when they were ten, they had watched the sunrise together. It was cold that day, a rare cold day in June, but Leif was just there…there, and kept her warm. _

"_Leif…" Angel let the name float out of her mouth. She turned to the digital clock next to her bed. Five fifty. Leif usually wasn't awake at this time when he was over with her. Would he be now without her? She was feeling rather reckless this morning; she reached for her phone and pressed the five speed dial, the middle button, the button with the number of the one in the middle of her heart. She frowned slightly as she remembered she had set Duke's number there and was about to end the call when she noticed Leif's number. When did that happen? Something swarm to the top of her memory. Last night…_

"_I'll go. I'm fine with leaving." Duke smiled at her through his shaggy bangs. "I know you still like Leif, Angel. You would never like me as much as you like him."_

"_Duke…" Angel was still uncomfortable ending it like this. She felt so…shallow. She had ended the relationship because she liked someone _more_ than Duke…that felt like such a bad reason. But he persisted that she let him go. It was the best for both of them._

"_Can I see your phone for a second, though? I need to call someone." Duke had held his hand out and Angel had given him her cell phone. After a quick call and a few beeps, Duke handed the phone back to her and left. Just like that. He had just left. _

_That Duke. Angel smiled. The phone rang for a few rings before it instantly went to voicemail. Leaving a quick message to call her back, or maybe meet her somewhere, Angel hung up. A quick thought flashed through her mind; what if he was with someone? Little did she know that his phone was on the floor of his living room as he slept on, dreaming gossamer dreams of delicate fair skin and golden white hair. _

_Never mind that, Angel thought to herself. Today was a new day. Maybe their relationship wouldn't be patched up in a day, but now she would tell him. Tell him how she felt, why she had left him, why she was coming back to him now. Folding up the sheets on her bed, Angel ripped off the page of the desk calendar next to her bed and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth. The calendar was a horoscope, Taurus, which she had bought with Leif earlier that year. This time, April 23, x year…_

'_Reconcile with someone in your past. Positive outlooks on life go hand in hand with positive vibes that will bring you two closer together.'_

To be continued…NO!

Note: Actually yes it will be continued, but the next one will be the conclusion. OH NO! How did this happen so fast? However, since I have not had enough time to finish the last chapter, it is not ready yet…it probably won't be in a few days. Wait up for it…it's a bit strange…I don't have any ideas for any more series yet. It's a bit annoying to update all the time though…I'll stick with oneshots for a bit. i'm a bit glad this happened...Yoh and Lyserg are back on! Yay!Thank you for reading! Review, thank you, and please!


	14. Build Me Up Buttercup

**Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics. If any of these songs were mine, I wouldn't be writing fanfics.**

Background music: Build Me Up Buttercup – the Foundations

Chapter 14 – Build Me Up Buttercup

Horo sat behind his mother nervously. Truthfully, he'd never been in such a big house. Ren's house was nothing compared to this place. He kind of understood why his mother wanted them to move here. They had been brought in by a secretary and they were told to wait in this room. Kimi had sat down traditional style and Horo followed suit quickly. Pirka seemed oblivious to it as she sat cross legged. Horo cuffed her in the arm and she quickly corrected her seating choice the second the sliding doors in front of them slid open.

"Ah…the children!" Shino said happily, clapping her hands together. Horo didn't quite understand what she was saying exactly, but knew it had something to do with him and Pirka, because the old lady was looking at them. So this was his grandma, with his grandpa. He kind of expected something more than this. They didn't look so bad. In fact, worst comes to worst, he could probably beat the shit out of them and escape.

"What did they say?" Pirka whispered loudly in English. Shino shot her a look and she instantly quieted down.

"So," Shino said, in rickety English. "I gather you all want to say?"

"That is not what we agreed on," Kimi said quietly. Shino's joyous face changed for a second.

"What are you talking about?" Horo whispered, but Kimi looked proud of herself.

"Horo, Pirka…I would like to tell you why we're here." Kimi kept facing forward, looking at Shino with a triumphant look. "When I was here last time, I wondered why your father's parents were so generous to have us when they had been so distant from us in the past. At first they said that they had a change of heart…then…

"They finally told me the reason why they wanted me to come." Kimi closed her eyes. "Hiro had left them a will."

"A will?"

"Yes. It was dated the day we came to ask for their blessing." Kimi looked back at Shino, who looked furious. "He had left it behind after we decided to go away and elope. He wanted a will to be left behind in case something happened to him. He left me and my children three fourths of his estate."

"Three fourths?" Pirka shouted. She wasn't that good at math, but knew that three out of four was pretty big.

"Yes. And fate has it…most of this is Hiro's."

"How?" Horo asked.

"Before Hiro inherited the company, this estate used to be five times less this size. But then when Hiro took charge, somehow everything turned around and he bought all this land. So now, technically, I own all this land."

Shino twitched. "And if your mother doesn't stay, we have to get off his land. It is technically not ours. We only own one fourth and the will specially states that this land only belongs to Kimi and without her consent, no one can stay on it."

"Wait." Horo held his hand up and everyone looked at him. "My dad's been dead for so long…why hasn't this been talked about earlier?"

"We were cleaning out Hiro's old room and found it," Shino said stiffly.

"So…" Kimi stood up. "We have come to sell this land to the Usuis."

"What?" Horo and Pirka nearly jumped up. "Wait, mom, you're going to what?"

"Yeah! Didn't you two say you didn't want to be here?" Kimi turned. "If we sell what he have now, the Usuis can stay here, we get enough to sustain ourselves back in America, and everyone ends up happy!"

"That's…" Horo was at a loss for words. "That's…"

"Kimi!" Shino shouted. "It is better if you stay!"

"If I stay here, my children have nothing. You wanted the best for your son…and I want the best for my children." Kimi looked her down. "Do you want to buy this land or not?"

"Mom! Take charge!" Pirka cheered.

Shino frowned and looked ready to refuse, but Maki stepped forward. "Let them go," he said quietly. "They obviously feel they don't belong here. We can't force them to."

"But…!"

"Shino…" Maki closed his eyes. "I was thinking about it. We tried to keep Hiro here. He ended up leaving us. They'll come back eventually."

Shino looked super pissed but knew he was right. "Fine," she muttered. "I'll sign the papers."

--

_They let us play with markers, but I kept trying to draw infinity…and I read the Bible to pass the time…_

Horo opened his eyes, barely _really_ hearing Pirka's excited shouts. It was so…he hated using the same word so many times, but it was…surreal. Without wasting a minute, after everything had been smoothed out (which took less time than he expected), they had gotten back on the plane back to America. He had only spent a night away from his friends and they had made it such a big deal.

Oh crap. Ren was going to _kill_ him.

"They're here!" Pirka shouted. Even Kimi couldn't suppress a grin. They had driven back to their apartment home, and although she knew Horo and Pirka had called beforehand, she couldn't believe the large welcome back mob. Of course, Horo's friends were there, but Tamao was also waving at them and Kororo. She spotted Keiko and Mikihisa (who had actually gotten a job as a park ranger as of late!) standing farther away, to give the kids the right of way. Her partner gave her a smile from such far away, and the moment the car stopped, Kimi had darted toward her, followed by Kororo, sobbing with joy. Pirka immediately leapt out of the car into Tamao's arms and they jumped around hysterically for a few minutes. Horo stayed in the car a bit longer, throwing a silent prayer of thanks into the air before taking a deep breath and leaving the van.

There was a tender silence and even Pirka had taken her girl celebration farther away. Taking another deep breath, Horo looked at his friends sheepishly. "Well…hello again."

Another silence. Then "YAHOO!!" Choco leapt into the air, pumping his fist. "HE'S EFFING BACK! THE ROADTRIP IS EFFING ON!"

"Welcome back!" Lyserg called from the back, and Horo noted he looked relatively happier. Stoked, in fact. And if he didn't know better, he and Yoh were back together, by the looks on their faces and the obvious fact they were standing so much closer to each other than they had the last few weeks. Yoh looked relieved too and this fact was communicated with a single nod. Nodding in recognition to his best friend, Horo was almost knocked to the ground as Hao glomped him.

"I said it, I said it, didn't I? Horo loves us too much to really leave us!" Hao rubbed his head into Horo's stomach. Horo groaned and shoved Hao's head off of him and strangely enough, Hao actually backed off. The Usui turned to the person who mattered most, who was actually glaring daggers at him at the moment.

"You said you were leaving for good," Ren said in a low voice, barely containing his anger. "So you _lied._"

"Um…yeah…sorry?" Horo winced as Ren slapped him across the face. Ren hit like a girl…an extremely pissed off girl, that is. There was a hushed silence as Ren remained silent. Horo grinned sheepishly.

After what seemed like an eternity, Ren's face broke off into a tiny (tiny!) smile. "But at least you're back, I guess." Wrapping his arms around him, Ren planted a huge wet one on Horo, straight on the mouth, emitting wolf whistles from Hao. Ren rolled his eyes as Yoh sheepishly cheered from the back and he heard Lyserg clapping. After a second, the clapping stopped and Ren could tell from Hao's second wolf whistle that Yoh had probably 'done a Ren' on Lyserg. Choco was being his usual jumpy self.

"He's back, he's back…"

"Oh…my…" Kororo had come back and averted her eyes politely to the four guys smooching it up on the doorstep. "Am I interrupting?"

"My dear lady, if you are, then we're practically having a party around them." Hao grinned in the player like way he had and Kororo groaned.

--

"Is everything packed?"

"I guess so."

"I think I forgot toothpaste."

"We can buy it in Canada."

"No! I don't like minty toothpaste! It irritates my mouth."

"Hao, you can't always use bubble gum toothpaste."

"Bubblegum?!"

"I chew it sometimes.

"It doesn't even taste anything like bubblegum!"

"Ho! How would you know?"

"Guys!" Lyserg held one hand up. "Are we going to argue next to the car for the next few days instead of actually going?"

The six of them looked at each other. Next to Yoh was a simple suitcase while Hao seemed to have brought his wardrobe plus another closet. Horo had his basketball duffle bag and Ren only had a backpack, saying he 'packed light'. Lyserg had a travel bag he had gotten in England. Choco was holding an orange duffle bag. Next to them sat a dark blue Yarus.

"A Yarus? For real?" Choco circled the car. "We are so not going to fit into this baby."

"Hey, at least we'll have some bonding!" Hao looked thrilled.

"Let's see if we can get our shit in first."

After a long time of grunting and pushing, every last bag fit into the back of the Yarus. Which left a limited amount of space in the front. Somehow Hao had wrestled the prize of driving from Ren and was seating in the driver's seat. Ren sat next to him in the passenger's seat, looking a tad miffed. Horo sat in the back, with Choco's 'fro as his footrest. Of course, Choco's hair was so dence he really couldn't tell. Lyserg was squeezed in-between Horo and Yoh, and wasn't complaining in the slightest. In fact, the greenette was nestled comfortably on Yoh's lap, his arms around the brunette's neck.

"Let's get this thing started!" Hao shouted enthusiastically. After a few screwups trying to get out of the parking lot, they finally managed to get on the freeway.

"Like, a million more miles to go!" Hao shouted again. He glanced in the review mirror and saw Yoh and Lyserg looking quite friendly, with his younger brother whispering something in Lyserg's ear. The Brit broke into a grin and they started sucking face.

"Oh…please…" Choco covered his face. "I'm facing you guys. Could you hold it off for a few hours when I drift off?" He shifted on the floor; there wasn't enough room on the seat.

"We've held it in for months," Yoh explained, as Lyserg turned. "You should be lucky I'm not screwing Lyserg right now."

"Ag! Yoh!" Choco covered his ears and shut his eyes tight. "Stop!"

"Yoh!" Lyserg laughed. Horo rolled his eyes, as did Ren in the front.

"Hey, Ren, if you want to do some getting to know with Horo, I could ask Choco to come to the front," Hao suggested.

"No." After a few minutes of strained silence, Ren muttered, "Screw this," and clamored to the back. Horo welcomed him with open arms (literally) and Choco quickly scrambled into the front to escape the make out session in the back. "Gross," he muttered as he collapsed next to Hao.

"I need to pee," Hao complained suddenly.

"I told you to go when we were still off the road!" Lyserg called from the back.

"Ag. But I didn't have to go then!" Hao squirmed. "I need to pee!"

…

The car was silent. Yoh and Lyserg were asleep, Lyserg leaning his head on Yoh's shoulder. They were quite cute…if this wasn't a scene the others had witnessed countless annoying times. Ren wasn't awake to comment on this; he was also asleep, leaning on Horo's shoulder. Horo seemed between being sleep and being awake; he was restless but didn't respond when Hao taunted him. Choco sat, quite awake in the front. After Hao nearly crashed the car that one time where there was intense screaming involved, he wasn't going to sleep any time soon.

"What's your agenda?" Hao asked, breaking the silence.

"I'm going to visit my parents' grave," Choco said, leaning against the door.

"Good for you. Also don't put too much pressure or you'll fall out." Hao glanced at him before staring back at the road. Somehow, Choco noticed, Hao was much more responsible when not many people were watching. The speed was normal and he was actually concerned. He had asked him numerous times if he should crack a window so disease wouldn't grow.

"Why would you care?"

"I've been alone enough to stare caring," Hao said shortly. He glanced back. "I'm glad Yoh and Lyserg are back together. They're cute, don'cha think?"

"You sound like a mother."

"And Horo and Ren…aw…" Hao mocked a high voice. There was a silence. "I need to pee."

"You had to pee ten minutes ago and we stopped!"

"Yeah…but…"

"Focus on the goddamn road!"

"I need to pee!"

"Your bladder is tiny! FOCUS ON THE ROAD!"

"SHUT UP! YOU'LL WAKE THEM UP!"

"Who is screaming?"

"See? Ah…I really need to piss!"

"Hao? Are you screaming?"

"FOCUS ON THE ROAD!"

"PEE!"

"SHUT UP!"

"What the hell…?"

"PEE!

"Focus!!"

…

The freeway was never the same again.

End.

Note: The end…finally. As much as I didn't want to post this, some people have been sticking with me till the end and it wouldn't be fair not to let them see the ending. I hope the Usui will part made sense. A bit anti dramatic. I apologize. I suck at endings. Thank you for reading! I don't have any ideas for any series yet so it's going to be oneshots and drabshots forward! Thank you again!


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